Thunder Storm Odyssey
by lauraac2110
Summary: Ancient scrolls speak of a coming storm. This is the Odyssey of the Ninja Storm Rangers, with Conner and Ethan of the Dino Thunder Rangers, as this storm grows ever closer and of Lothor, the greatest of all evil ninjas, as he rises once again.
1. Prologue: A Storm Brews

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own Power Rangers, unfortunately, Disney and Saban have that honour._

**_Note: __The Thunder Storm Odyssey is purely additional content for my Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart novel. It doesn't stand alone, unfortunately, so if you haven't read my main novel, you won't have a clue about what is happening in this novel at all! _**

_This Odyssey mainly deals with the story of the Ninja Storm Rangers and Conner/Ethan of the Dino Thunder Rangers from the day of the Venjix invasion onwards to present events in my novel._

_Lauraac2110_

Thunder Storm Odyssey

Part of the Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart Universe

A Power Rangers Fanfiction

Prologue: A Storm Brews

by Lauraac2110

_Ancient scrolls speak of a coming storm. A time of great destruction and despair during which the force of Neutrality, which has so far distanced itself from the war between Good and Evil, will rise up to make the final decision about which side wins the never-ending war between them._

_They speak of a Chosen One, marked by many Signs, who will come to us in a flurry of golden light with both the Protector and Messenger at his side during his quest for that which was split and hidden long ago. They also say that the Chosen One will be the one to finally put an end to the greatest of all the evil ninjas, my brother, Lothor, at the height of his last reign of terror. _

_For most of my time as Sensei of the Wind Ninja Academy, I have dismissed these ancient scrolls as being nothing more than false fantasy. There are many prophecies of Chosen Ones and, to be honest, most of them have been proven to be false. However, now, after the Venjix invasion two years ago, I'm not so sure if the ancients scrolls are truly false or not._

_Something is drastically wrong with the universe, I can feel it in the very depths of my heart. _

_And the coming storm has already begun to brew..._


	2. Memories of The Thunder: It All Began

Thunder Storm Odyssey

Part of the Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart Universe

A Power Rangers Fanfiction

Memories Of The Thunder: It All Began...

by Lauraac2110

_**Somewhere On The Road To Blue Bay Harbour, Bus Station, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early morning**_

_As Ethan James stood at the quiet bus station on the road to Blue Bay Harbour, he looked down at his watch anxiously. _

Where is he? _Ethan wondered as he stood there. _He said that he would be here by now.

_He waited for another few minutes before he checked that his suitcase and laptop were still at his side. They were._

__He was supposed to be here ages ago. What's taking him so long? _Ethan wondered as he glanced down at the watch again. _

_At that moment, a red sports car drove up beside him and the driver hastily rolled down the front window. It was Conner._

"_Sorry that I'm late," he apologised. _

"_Hey, man, what took you so long?" Ethan asked as Conner opened the rear door. _

_"Eric called to check that we were definitely heading over to Blue Bay Harbour to see him today. He's so forgetful at times," Conner replied simply as Ethan clambered in with his suitcase and laptop and shut the door behind him. "Wow, Ethan, you've changed a lot since the last time we had a chance to hang out."_

"_So have you," Ethan countered. "How's life been treating you?"_

"_Quite well, actually," Conner replied. "My career as a professional footballer has been quite successful so far. How about you?"_

"_Well, my software company is doing quite well. We're one of the millions of companies working to find a way to combat the Venjix computer virus. Man, Conner, that virus is one of the nastiest that I've ever come across," Ethan replied._

"_It's just a computer virus, Ethan. It'll ruin hundreds of computers, of course, but, in the end, what real harm can it actually do?" Conner replied as he put his foot on the accelerator and drove away from the Bus Station._

_"I suppose," Ethan replied as he decided to swiftly change the subject. "So, what's your brother like? And does he know about you being a Ranger?"_

"_Of course he doesn't know about my time as a Power Ranger. He's..." Conner said as he began to tell Ethan all about his brother as he continued to drive towards Blue Bay Harbour._

_As the sports car grew ever closer to Blue Bay Harbour, neither Conner nor Ethan had any idea that they would soon find out about just how dangerous the Venjix virus really was._

_**Blue Bay Harbour, Beach, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, mid-morning, some time later**_

"_Hey, bro, it's good to see you," Eric exclaimed as he met them at the beach. He was dressed in typical summery clothes with a bright red t-shirt and white shorts whilst he wore a pair of sunglasses over his eyes._

_Conner smiled. "It's good to see you too, Eric," he replied as they embraced fondly. Then, they broke apart._

"_Who is your friend?" Eric asked as he saw Ethan._

_"Eric, meet Ethan James," Conner said in introduction. "He's one of my friends from Reefside."_

"_It's an honour to meet you, Eric," Ethan replied politely._

_Eric nodded but didn't say anything in reply. Ethan could tell instantly by the expression on his face that Conner's brother didn't like him and that this was going to be an awkward day._

"_So, bro, how would you like to go have some fun in the sea?" Eric asked._

_Ethan definitely expected Conner to say "no" to this, due to the fact that Conner couldn't swim as far as Ethan could remember, but was stunned when Conner actually said the opposite._

"_Sure, bro," Conner said with a smile. "What about you, Ethan?"_

"_Yeah, of course," Ethan replied with an uneasy smile. Eric nodded at this._

"_Last one into the sea is a rotten fish!" Eric exclaimed as he ran to the sea. Conner looked at Ethan with a strange expression._

_"What's wrong?" Conner asked._

"_I thought that you couldn't swim," Ethan replied._

_Conner chuckled. "After graduating from Reefside High, I had a whole summer before I went into football properly. I used it wisely and hired a tutor to teach me to swim," he explained. "Water doesn't bother me at all any more."_

_Ethan was about to say something in reply to this but, before he could, Eric interrupted him._

_"Hey, aren't you two coming?" Eric asked. Conner and Ethan looked to each other for a moment._

"_Race you there," Conner exclaimed as he burst into a run towards the sea._

_"Hey, no fair!" Ethan exclaimed as he raced after his best friend. He was laughing whilst he ran because he knew that he had already been beat. Conner, being an athlete, was just too fast for him._

_**Blue Bay Harbour, Sea Shore, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, some time later**_

"_What the hell?" Conner exclaimed whilst he floated in the water as the metallic monsters appeared on the beach. Ethan turned his head sharply from where he was floating in the water nearby to see what was going on and turned pale when he laid eyes upon the metallic monsters. _

"_We've got to get out of here!" Eric exclaimed._

_"No way," Conner replied as he watched screaming people flee in all directions from the metallic monsters. "We've got to stop these things from terrorising innocent people. Ethan, are you with me?"_

_Ethan nodded. Then, without saying anything else to Eric, they swam back to the beach to confront the metallic monsters. _

_**Blue Bay Harbour, Beach, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, many minutes later**_

"_I don't think that we can keep this up much longer, Conner," Ethan exclaimed as he took down another one of the metallic monsters. "There are just too many of them!"_

"_We've got to keep going, Ethan," Conner replied as he took out several of them with a powerful blow. "There has to be an end to them eventually."_

"_I don't think that there is. Look, bro!" Eric exclaimed as he pointed to another group of metallic monsters heading towards them. Conner and Ethan groaned._

"_Conner?" Ethan said hesitantly as they took out several more metallic monsters. Conner didn't reply and took out yet another metallic monster. Then, he paused for a moment._

"_We're running," he finally said as Ethan took out several more metallic monsters._

"_There's a forest nearby. We can hide in that," Eric exclaimed._

_"Lead the way, bro," Conner replied as he and Ethan broke free of the metallic monsters they had been fighting seconds before. Then, before the metallic monsters could stop them, Conner, Ethan and Eric fled into the forest with Eric leading the way._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Forest, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, a few minutes later**_

"_Keep running!" Eric exclaimed as they ran through the forest. _

_At that moment, Ethan remembered his laptop and he stopped._

"_My laptop..." he began. However, before Ethan could start to head back to Blue Bay Harbour, Conner ran back to his side and grabbed his arm._

"_Oh no you don't," Conner said quite firmly. "Your life is more important than your laptop right now."_

"_Let's hope that..." Eric began as Conner began to drag Ethan onwards through the forest._

_However, he never finished as they reached a waterfall and quickly found themselves surrounded by more metallic monsters. Eric instantly rushed behind a nearby tree to hide as Conner and Ethan stood back to back._

"_Damn, more of those metallic monsters," Ethan exclaimed._

"_Stay with me, Ethan," Conner exclaimed. "We can beat these guys."_

"_No, we can't, Conner," Ethan replied. "We're both exhausted!" _

"_We haven't got a choice. We've got to beat them," Conner snapped. "Ready... Now!"_

_At that moment, both of them charged into battle against the metallic monsters._

I don't know about Conner but I can't keep this up much longer. _Ethan thought silently to himself as he and Conner fought the metallic monsters. _If we don't get some assistance soon, we're going to be in a lot of trouble.

_Little did Ethan realise at that moment that help was already on its way._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Forest, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, a few seconds later**_

_When Cam appeared in a flash of light, Conner and Ethan were still struggling to hold off the metallic monsters. Fortunately, Cam managed to change that by destroying most of them quickly with the aid of his ninja streak ability. As soon as the metallic monsters were destroyed, he turned to Conner and Ethan before he turned pale._

"_You two..." he began._

"_It has been a long time, Cam," Conner said with a smile. "Thanks."_

"_Yeah, without your help, we would have been toast," Ethan exclaimed. "Thanks man."_

"_I've just got one question. How on earth are you here?" Conner asked._

"_That's a long story, guys. How are you both here?" Cam countered._

"_Well...," Conner began. "We were here visiting my brother, Eric, Cam."_

_Conner paused for a moment as he looked around because he had noticed that Eric wasn't anywhere in sight. "Where is he, anyway?" he continued._

"_I'm right here," Eric replied as he revealed that he was hiding behind a nearby tree."You two know Cam?" _

"_Um... yeah. We..." Conner began._

"_We met in Reefside a few years ago," Ethan interrupted quickly. "Right, Cam?"_

_Cam nodded uneasily. "Yeah," he agreed. "I was there on an errand which they assisted me with."_

_There were a few moments of uneasy silence before more metallic monsters appeared amongst the trees. Conner and Ethan both groaned as Cam took a step back._

"_It's time to go. Follow me," Cam said as he turned and leapt back through the portal._

"_Wow..." Ethan began as Eric followed after him. However, he never got to finish as Conner grabbed his arm and they leapt through the portal together._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Portal To The Outside World, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, a few minutes later**_

_As Conner and Ethan reappeared at the other side of the portal, both Cam and Eric were waiting on them._

"_My father isn't going to like this, guys," Cam warned as he closed the portal to all unwelcome visitors behind them. "Outsiders have never been in the Wind Ninja Academy before and ninja training drop-outs have never returned after they've been banned."_

_Eric grimaced at this. "Don't remind me. Sensei's going to be especially angry with me."_

"_It was really necessary, Cam," Ethan replied with a shrug. "I'm sure that your father will understand that you did the right thing by bringing us here to save our lives."_

"_Yeah and, if he doesn't, we'll make him see sense," Conner replied. "He wouldn't abandon..."_

_Ethan kicked Conner on the back of the leg to stop him from saying the words "Power Rangers" in Eric's presence and to stop him from giving the secret away. Eric raised an eyebrow at this but he didn't say anything as Ethan sighed._

"_Conner's right. Your father wouldn't abandon innocents," Ethan assured Cam. _

_Cam nodded. "Let's hope that you're right," he said grimly. "Come."_

_And, without saying anything else, Cam led the three of them through the forest to the Wind Ninja Academy._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, yet another few minutes later**_

"_Dad..." Cam began uneasily as he returned with Conner, Ethan and Eric in tow. Sensei Watanabe turned to Cam and turned pale when he saw that Cam had company._

"_Cam, you know that outsiders aren't allowed here. Neither are drop-outs..." Sensei Watanabe began._

"_I couldn't just leave them!" Cam exclaimed angrily back. "If you were in my position, you would have done the same thing."_

"_Have them bound and blindfolded," Sensei Watanabe snapped. "They can't see anything else of the academy until I've decided what to do with them."_

"_Dad, no. They're our guests and should be treated as such," Cam replied as he stood ready to defend Conner, Ethan and Eric from the students._

"_Sensei, Cam's right," Tori said calmly in agreement as she also put herself in between the students and Conner, Ethan and Eric. "Don't you remember what Conner and Ethan did for us a few years back?"_

"_Yeah, without them, we would probably be..." Dustin began before he fell hastily silent as Shane elbowed him in the ribs to stop him as they both put themselves between the students and Conner, Ethan and Eric. "Well, you know."_

"_This is wrong, Sensei," Shane said grimly. "We know what they are and we shouldn't be treating them like this."_

_Sensei Watanabe sighed. "Fine," he repented. "They're not going to be bound and blindfolded. However, because they're with Eric, one of the few to drop out of the Wind Ninja Academy, I've got no choice but to have them escorted to a room until I can decide what to do with them."_

_Conner and Ethan sighed in relief at this._

"_Beats being bound and blindfolded, I guess. We can live with that," Ethan shrugged._

"_Hey, thanks, Shane, Dustin, Tori, Cam," Conner said before he was lead away along with Ethan and Eric. "We owe you one."_

_Then, they were gone. _

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, yet another few minutes later**_

"_Don't get any ideas, friends," one ninja said as he escorted Conner, Ethan and Eric into a dormitory. "This is where you're going to be held until Sensei can decide what he wants to do with you."_

_Conner and Ethan nodded as they sat down on one of the beds. Eric was quite pale._

"_We won't," Conner promised before the ninja left._

"_Well, at least we're safe now," Ethan said grimly._

"_Yeah," Conner agreed with a sad sigh. _

"_We could always escape..." Eric began._

_Conner and Ethan instantly shook their heads._

"_No. We're not going to do that," Conner replied quite firmly. "We're going to wait for Sensei Watanabe's decision first."_

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, mid-afternoon, some time later**_

_When the cry of "The Thunder Ninjas! The Thunder Ninjas from the Thunder Ninja Academy have come!" went out, Conner sighed._

"_They probably mean Blake and Hunter as well as the Thunder Ninja Academy students," Conner said simply. "I'm glad that they're all right."_

_Eric was startled by this. "How do you know of Blake and Hunter?" he asked instantly._

"_Well..." Conner began._

"_It's a secret," Ethan replied quite firmly to end the conversation._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late afternoon, some time later**_

"_Hey Marah, Kapri, you both look well," Ethan greeted as they entered carrying a tray with three plates of fish upon it._

"_Is that..." Eric began._

"_Yeah. Sensei asked us to bring everyone food. Sorry that it's not much, guys, but it's all that we had left in the store after we gave all the ninjas their meals," Kapri replied as she passed out the three plates. Conner and Ethan smiled._

"_It's more than enough," Conner replied politely. "Thank you, Marah, Kapri."_

_They both nodded and left without another word as Eric began wolfing down the fish because he was so hungry. Conner and Ethan were instantly disgusted by this and turned their back to him as they slowly ate their fishes._

"_Ugh, who knew that he could be so disgusting?" Ethan whispered quietly to Conner as they both kept their backs turned to Eric. _

_Conner sighed. "I know," he replied quietly. "I'm glad that I didn't turn out like that."_

"_Hey, why don't we play rock, paper, scissors to distract ourselves," Ethan suggested. Conner raised an eyebrow. "What? I know that it's a kids game but what else can we do here right now?"_

"_Fair point," Conner replied with a faint smile. "On three..."_

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early evening, some time later**_

"_Well?" Conner asked simply as Cam entered some time later. Cam smiled._

"_My father wishes to see you both," Cam replied simply as he looked to both Conner and Ethan before he turned to Eric. "As for you, Eric, a unanimous decision about your fate was reached. You're going to rejoin the academy, and learn, or we will throw you to the mercy of the metallic monsters known as Grinders."_

_Eric gulped before he nodded. Then, Conner and Ethan got up and, without even looking at Eric, they followed Cam out of the room._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early evening, a few minutes later**_

"_Hey, I thought this place had been destroyed," Conner remarked as they descended the stairs into Ninja Ops._

_Cam smiled at this. "After we fought together, I decided that it might be best to rebuild it in case other Rangers happened to one day come up against Lothor," he replied simply. "Welcome to Ninja Ops."_

"_This is so cool," Ethan exclaimed with a smile. "It reminds me a great deal of the Dino Thunder Command Centre."_

"_I know," Conner said with a sigh in agreement with Ethan._

"_Hey, where are Shane and the others? I thought that they would be here," Ethan asked suddenly._

"_They have gone to scout the perimeter around the portal to the outside world," Sensei Watanabe replied as he revealed that he was sitting in the chair in front of the computer._

"_Sensei, you sent for us?" Conner said respectfully as they reached the bottom of the stairs._

_Sensei Watanabe nodded. "Yes," he replied simply. "I wish to let you know that we've agreed that you should be allowed to stay here with us at the Wind Ninja Academy for as long as necessary because you are both former Power Rangers. I should never have acted the way that I did towards you both, although Eric did deserve the way that I reacted to him, so I apologise."_

_Both Conner and Ethan nodded. Then, there was a long period of silence before Conner finally spoke up._

"_Will we be able to join the Academy?" he asked._

_Sensei Watanabe nodded. "You will have to wait a few weeks due to necessity but, at this moment of time, I honestly don't see why you can't join us."_

"_Can I ask, what exactly is going on out there right now?" Ethan asked._

"_Well, all we know is that there are millions of those metallic monsters known as Grinders attacking every city in the world. We can assume that the Grinders, because of their far superior numbers, are probably in control of most of the world right now. As for what will happen to the people, we haven't got a clue," Cam answered simply. "Dad and I are hoping that we'll find out when Shane, Dustin, Tori, Blake and Hunter come back."_

"_Wait, what about Kira, Trent and Dr O.?" Conner exclaimed as he remembered about his fellow Dino Rangers._

"_We've got to..." Ethan began._

"_There's nothing that you can do for your friends, and fellow Power Rangers, now," Sensei Watanabe said firmly._

"_My dad's right. All you can do now is survive in hiding until this invasion is over," Cam added. "Then, you can search for them. Whether they'll still be alive or not is another matter."_

_There was a long moment of silence at this as Marah and Kapri entered with trays of food which they left on the nearby coffee table._

"_Marah and Kapri will take you both back to your room. That's all," Sensei Watanabe said firmly. Conner and Ethan nodded and allowed themselves to be led away by his two nieces. _

_Cam looked to his father for a moment but, before he could say anything, the Wind and Thunder Rangers returned._

"_Sensei, you'll never believe..." Shane began as they descended the stairs into Ninja Ops. _

"_We'll talk over dinner," Sensei Watanabe said simply. "Cam?"_

_Cam nodded as he dished out dinner to everyone before they all sat in a circle around the coffee table._

"_Well?" Sensei Watanabe asked._

"_Sensei, they're..." Tori began as she began to tell him what they had found out during their scouting mission._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late evening, some time later**_

"_Thanks, Marah, Kapri," Conner said to the pair as they arrived at the dormitory. Marah and Kapri nodded._

"_You should get some rest. From what we heard, it sounds like you've had a hard day and are going to need it," Marah said._

"_Yeah. Pleasant dreams," Kapri added with a smile before they left as Conner and Ethan entered. Eric lay on his bunk and looked up._

"_So, how did it go?" Eric asked._

"_We're allowed to stay as well, bro," Conner replied as he and Ethan, with yawns, got into their bunks._

"_Tell me, bro, how exactly do you know about everyone here?" Eric asked._

_With a mischievous smile to Ethan, Conner replied simply, "It's a secret."_


	3. Memories of The Storm: The Ninjas' Fates

Thunder Storm Odyssey

Part of the Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart Universe

A Power Rangers Fanfiction

Memories Of The Storm: The Ninjas' Fates

by Lauraac2110

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early morning**_

"_Good morning, students," Shane said as he, Dustin and Tori appeared in a ninja streak. "I hope that you're ready for today's lesson."_

"_Yes, Sensei," one replied politely._

"_Good," Tori said with a smile. _

"_Today, we're going to..." Dustin began._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early morning, at that very moment**_

"_Dad, you seem troubled. Is everything all right?" Cam asked as he sat with his father in Ninja Ops._

_Sensei Watanabe sighed. "No, son, everything isn't all right," he replied simply. "Something seems very wrong with the world this morning."_

_Cam is instantly worried. "Are you sure, dad?" he asked. Sensei Watanabe nodded._

"_Yes," he replied simply._

"_Then, I'll stay here in Ninja Ops this morning to keep an eye upon things. If anything happens, I'll let you know," Cam said firmly. _

"_Thank you, son," Sensei Watanabe replied with a smile. "If you need me, I'll be watching Shane, Dustin and Tori train the students this morning."_

_Then, without another word, Sensei Watanabe left Ninja Ops. Cam sighed._

Let's hope that my father's sense of wrongness is wrong this morning. If it isn't, we're going to have a big problem. _He thought silently to himself as he sat down in the chair by the computer to monitor what was going on in the world._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, mid-morning**_

"_Sensei, it's an honour for us that you're here today," Shane said respectfully as Sensei Watanabe appeared from amongst the trees whilst the students continued to learn._

"_The honour is mine. As you were, please," Sensei Watanabe replied simply. Shane nodded and turned back to the students._

"_Now..." he began._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning**_

"_Oh no..." Cam breathed as the alarm in Ninja Ops went off. On-screen, a news bulletin appeared detailing that cities all over the world had been attacked by metallic monsters called Grinders and that any attempts by Power Rangers to stop them had resulted in the Power Rangers being beaten back or seemingly destroyed._

_Cam was frozen to the spot for a moment before he scrambled to his feet. He had to warn his father and the students about what had happened. If any of them left the Wind Ninja Academy, they would likely be captured or killed. He would never forgive himself if that happened._

_So, as quickly as possible, Cam pushed the chair out of his way before he rushed out of Ninja Ops to warn them. _

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, a few minutes later**_

"_Dad! We've got a major problem," Cam exclaimed as he interrupted the lesson._

"_Son, what's wrong?" Sensei Watanabe asked._

"_Yeah, Cam, what's wrong?" Tori added._

"_Well..." Cam began as he told them all about what was happening in the world at that very moment._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, another few minutes later**_

"_This is very serious indeed. Cam, go secure the portal," Sensei Watanabe commanded. "No student nor ninja is to leave the Wind Ninja Academy until further notice."_

"_Yes, father," Cam replied as he left in a ninja streak so that he could reach the portal as quickly as possible. _

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Portal To The Outside World, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, yet another few minutes later**_

_As Cam reached the portal, all seemed to be quiet. However, as he hesitantly touched the portal so that he would be able to temporarily close it to all unwelcome visitors, he heard exclamations on the other side._

"_Damn, more of those metallic monsters," a voice exclaimed._

"_Stay with me, Ethan," another voice exclaimed. "We can beat these guys."_

"_No, we can't, Conner," Ethan replied. "We're both exhausted!" _

"_We haven't got a choice. We've got to beat them," Conner snapped. "Ready... Now!"_

_Cam listened to the fighting for a moment before he closed his eyes. _

My father is so going to kill me for this but I can't just leave them there. _Cam thought silently as he stood there as he heard Conner and Ethan struggle against the Grinders. _If he were in my position, I'm sure that he would do the same thing. Here goes nothing...

_And, without another thought, Cam leapt through the portal to go to their aid. _

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Forest, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, a few seconds later**_

_When Cam appeared in a flash of light, Conner and Ethan were still struggling to hold off the Grinders. Fortunately, Cam managed to change that by destroying most of them quickly with the aid of his ninja streak ability. As soon as the Grinders were destroyed, he turned to Conner and Ethan before he turned pale._

"_You two..." he began._

"_It has been a long time, Cam," Conner said with a smile. "Thanks."_

"_Yeah, without your help, we would have been toast," Ethan exclaimed. "Thanks man."_

"_I've just got one question. How on earth are you here?" Conner asked._

"_That's a long story, guys. How are you both here?" Cam countered._

"_Well...," Conner began. "We were here visiting my brother, Eric, Cam."_

_Conner paused for a moment as he looked around because he had noticed that Eric wasn't anywhere in sight. "Where is he, anyway?" he continued._

"_I'm right here," Eric replied as he revealed that he was hiding behind a nearby tree."You two know Cam?" _

"_Um... yeah. We..." Conner began._

"_We met in Reefside a few years ago," Ethan interrupted quickly. "Right, Cam?"_

_Cam nodded uneasily. "Yeah," he agreed. "I was there on an errand which they assisted me with."_

_There were a few moments of uneasy silence before more Grinders appeared amongst the trees. Conner and Ethan both groaned as Cam took a step back._

"_It's time to go. Follow me," Cam said as he turned and leapt back through the portal._

"_Wow..." Ethan began as Eric followed after him. However, he never got to finish as Conner grabbed his arm and they leapt through the portal together._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Portal To The Outside World, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, a few minutes later**_

_As Conner and Ethan reappeared at the other side of the portal, both Cam and Eric were waiting on them._

"_My father isn't going to like this, guys," Cam warned as he closed the portal to all unwelcome visitors behind them. "Outsiders have never been in the Wind Ninja Academy before and ninja training drop-outs have never returned after they've been banned."_

_Eric grimaced at this. "Don't remind me. Sensei's going to be especially angry with me."_

"_It was really necessary, Cam," Ethan replied with a shrug. "I'm sure that your father will understand that you did the right thing by bringing us here to save our lives."_

"_Yeah and, if he doesn't, we'll make him see sense," Conner replied. "He wouldn't abandon..."_

_Ethan kicked Conner on the back of the leg to stop him from saying the words "Power Rangers" in Eric's presence and to stop him from giving the secret away. Eric raised an eyebrow at this but didn't say anything as Ethan sighed._

"_Conner's right. Your father wouldn't abandon innocents," Ethan assured Cam. _

_Cam nodded. "Let's hope that you're right," he said grimly. "Come."_

_And, without saying anything else, Cam led the three of them through the forest to the Wind Ninja Academy._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, yet another few minutes later**_

"_Dad..." Cam began uneasily as he returned with Conner, Ethan and Eric in tow. Sensei Watanabe turned to Cam and turned pale._

"_Cam, you know that outsiders aren't allowed here. Neither are drop-outs..." Sensei Watanabe began._

"_I couldn't just leave them!" Cam exclaimed angrily back. "If you were in my position, you would have done the same thing."_

"_Have them bound and blindfolded," Sensei Watanabe snapped. "They can't see anything else of the academy until I've decided what to do with them."_

"_Dad, no. They're our guests and should be treated as such," Cam replied as he stood ready to defend Conner, Ethan and Eric from the students._

"_Sensei, Cam's right," Tori said calmly in agreement as she also put herself in between the students and Conner, Ethan and Eric. "Don't you remember what Conner and Ethan did for us a few years back?"_

"_Yeah, without them, we would probably be..." Dustin began before he fell hastily silent as Shane elbowed him in the ribs to stop him as they both put themselves between the students and Conner, Ethan and Eric. "Well, you know."_

"_This is wrong, Sensei," Shane said grimly. "We know what they are and we shouldn't be treating them like this."_

_Sensei Watanabe sighed. "Fine," he repented. "They're not going to be bound and blindfolded. However, because they're with Eric, one of the few to drop out of the Wind Ninja Academy, I've got no choice but to have them escorted to a room until I can decide what to do with them."_

_Conner and Ethan sighed in relief at this._

"_Beats being bound and blindfolded, I guess. We can live with that," Ethan shrugged._

"_Hey, thanks, Shane, Dustin, Tori, Cam," Conner said before he was lead away along with Ethan and Eric. "We owe you one."_

_Then, they were gone. _

"_So, Sensei, what are we going to do, now?" Shane asked grimly._

"_We are going to rescue our brothers and sisters of the Thunder Ninja Academy. That's what," Sensei Watanabe replied grimly. "Shane, Dustin and Tori, you must head over to the Thunder Ninja Academy and bring them here. Their academy isn't as well protected as ours and the Grinders will probably have been able to infiltrate it."_

"_As you command, Sensei," Shane replied grimly. "Their academy isn't too far from here anyway but, with all the Grinders around, it's going to be quite difficult to sneak through."_

"_We'll be able to use our ninja powers on those Grinders, guys," Dustin replied with a grin. "They won't know what hit them when we blow them up."_

"_There's always that," Shane agreed with a grin. _

_Tori sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Guys. I'll never understand why they enjoy blowing things up," she muttered._

"_Neither will I, Tori," Sensei Watanabe assured with a smile."Now go. Our brethren are likely to need your help soon enough."_

_Shane, Dustin and Tori nodded. Then, they left._

_Cam sighed. "Let's hope that they can rescue Hunter and the students before it is too late."_

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, in the meadow at the edge of the Forest, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early afternoon, some time later**_

"_There!" Dustin exclaimed as they came across the Thunder Ninjas, with both Hunter and, surprisingly, Blake at their head, in a meadow at the edge of the forest. All of them seemed exhausted and, as soon as the three Wind Ninjas saw the Grinders around them, they could guess why. They must have had to fight their way here._

"_We've got to do something," Tori whispered to Shane and Dustin. "They're so exhausted that they're not going to escape the Grinders on their own."_

_Shane smiled. "I think it's time to bust out our ninja powers. On three," he murmured as they hesitantly crept through the trees as Shane began to quietly count to three under his breath. When he reached three, the three Wind Ninja Rangers burst into the meadow._

"_Hey, Grinders, pick on someone your own size," Shane said._

"_Together!" Tori exclaimed. "Now!"_

"_Power of Water!" Tori called as she entered a stance to summon her ninja powers. _

"_Power of Air!" Shane called as he entered a stance to summon his ninja powers. _

"_Power of Earth!" Dustin called as he entered a stance to summon his ninja powers. _

"_Ninja Power!" they called together as they fired their combined power in a concentrated beam of at the Grinders. Seconds later, all of the Grinders were destroyed in an explosion which sent bits and pieces of the metallic monsters everywhere._

_There was a moment of silence before Hunter and Blake shook their heads._

"_Nice timing," Hunter said simply._

"_Yeah, without you guys, I don't know how on earth we would've gotten out of that one," Blake added._

_There were another few moments of silence before they could hear more Grinders approaching._

"_It's time to get out of here. Sensei Watanabe sent us to fetch all of you," Shane explained. "Where's Sensei Almino?"_

_Blake and Hunter looked down. "He has gone after his daughter," they replied simply. "He told us to take the students to safety."_

"_There's no point in worrying about him, now," Dustin said grimly as Grinders grew ever closer. "We've got to worry about ourselves for now."_

"_Right. Come on," Blake agreed as he gestured to the students to follow as the five Ninja Storm Rangers fled to the safety of the Wind Ninja Academy._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, mid-afternoon, some time later**_

"_The Thunder Ninjas! The Thunder Ninjas from the Thunder Ninja Academy have come!" an out of breath student exclaimed as she rushed to inform Cam and Sensei Watanabe of the news._

"_Come, Cam. We must go to greet our guests," Sensei Watanabe said._

"_Sensei, you don't have to bother about us. We're right here," Blake and Hunter replied with a smile as they appeared in a ninja streak with Shane, Dustin, Tori and their students._

"_Hunter, Blake, it's good too see that you're safe," Cam said with a smile as he went over to greet them._

"_It's good to see that you're safe too, Cam," Blake replied before Hunter turned his attention to Sensei Watanabe._

"_Sensei Almino must not have made it, Sensei. He left us to take the students here to safety whilst he went after his daughter," Hunter informed him grimly._

_Sensei Watanabe sighed. "That is sad news indeed. In his place, Hunter, you're now the Sensei of the Thunder Ninja Academy. Rest assured that the Wind Ninja Academy will look after all your students and will provide you with a home until you can return to the Thunder Ninja Academy," he said grimly as he turned to call upon his nieces. "Marah! Kapri!"_

_After a few minutes, Marah and Kapri appeared in ninja streaks. "Yes, uncle?" Marah asked._

"_See to it that everyone gets some food and water from the stores," Sensei Watanabe commanded them. "And bring us some food down in Ninja Ops. We've got a few things that we need to discuss down there that I don't want the students to hear."_

"_Yes, uncle," Kapri replied submissively as they left._

"_Come," Sensei Watanabe said simply as he began to make his way to Ninja Ops. Soon, the six Ninja Storm Rangers quickly followed him as they knew that whatever he was about to say would be important if the students weren't to hear it._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late afternoon, some time later**_

"_I didn't know that you could cook, Marah, Kapri," Blake said as he finally finished his lunch. "This was good."_

"_Why, thank you," Marah smiled. _

"_We're glad that you like it," Kapri added as she and Marah began to collect up all the plates and bowls. Then, with a nod to Sensei Watanabe, they left. _

"_Do you know, Blake, that we're extremely lucky that you were holidaying at the Thunder Ninja Academy this week. Without your help, I don't think that I would've managed to make it here with all of the students still alive," Hunter said with a smile._

"_I know," Blake chuckled. "If I had gone to that motocross tournament then I would either be dead or captured by now."_

"_That's not something you should find funny, Blake," Sensei Watanabe snapped._

_Blake nodded as he instantly fell silent. "Sorry, Sensei," he apologised._

"_Besides, we must discuss what we're going to do with our guests," Sensei Watanabe continued._

"_Guests?" Hunter and Blake said in unison._

_Cam grimaced. "Do you remember Eric?"_

"_The drop-out? Why didn't you throw him out when he came here seeking refuge, Sensei?" Hunter replied._

"_It wasn't that simple, Hunter," Sensei Watanabe replied._

"_Do you remember the Dino Thunder Rangers?" Shane asked Hunter and Blake._

"_They're here? With Eric? How?" Blake exclaimed. _

_Cam nodded. "Two of them are. Eric's brother is Conner McKnight, the Red Dino Ranger, and, along with the Blue Dino Ranger, Ethan James, he was in Blue Bay Harbour visiting his brother. They fled into the forest and, against my father's wishes, I rescued the three of them from Grinders," Cam explained._

"_So, what are we going to do with them, Sensei?" Dustin asked grimly._

"_I think that we should let them stay," Hunter said quietly. "However, I don't think that Eric shouldn't be punished for dropping out of the Wind Ninja Academy."_

"_Neither do I," Sensei Watanabe replied. "Perhaps we should force him to rejoin the academy and we could threaten him. If he doesn't do well in his ninja training, we'll have enough grounds to throw him out."_

_"I like that idea," Shane agreed with a grin. "He'll be sure to stick in because of it."_

"_What about Conner and Ethan?" Tori asked._

"_They're our honoured guests. As former Power Rangers, I think that they deserve the liberty of deciding what they want to do with themselves. However, if they decide to enter the academy, they're going to have to wait a few weeks due to necessity," Sensei Watanabe replied with a shrug._

_At that moment, Cam decided to add in one more thing. "By the way, we're going to have to be careful around Eric as Conner hasn't told him about the fact that he's a former Power Ranger yet. We can't afford to mention anything that might give that fact away. As far as Eric knows, I met Conner and Ethan in Reefside when they assisted us with a__n__ "errand"," he said grimly. "If Eric asks you about how they know of you, I trust that you'll probably find some sort of lie to tell him or be evasive enough to find a way of not saying anything at all about it."_

_There were nods from the other Ninja Storm Rangers at this. _

_"So, what now, Sensei?" Shane asked._

"_I want you to scout the perimeter outside of the portal because the television stations went down hours ago and I need to know what's going on out there," Sensei Watanabe replied. "Cam and I will deal with our guests."_

"_As you command, Sensei," the Wind and Thunder Ninja Rangers replied as they left. _

_Cam sighed. "I'll go tell Eric the good news whilst I fetch Conner and Ethan, dad," he said simply as he too left._

_Left alone, Sensei Watanabe turned his thoughts to planning so that all of the students would be able to survive._

___**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, at the edge of the forest, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early evening, some time later**_

_As they reached the edge of the forest which was closest to Blue Bay Harbour, the five Wind and Thunder Ninja Rangers were horrified at the scene in the town._

_Grinders were escorting groups of people in chains towards the hillside, and a known quarry, to a labour camp they had set up there._

"_We've got to do something," Tori hissed to the others. "We can't stand by and watch innocent people being forced into slavery by the Grinders."_

"_I know, Tori," Shane said as Dustin got up._

"_This way," he exclaimed as he rushed off towards the labour camp at the hillside. Shane and Tori soon got up and followed after him._

"_Guys, wait!" Hunter hissed. However, they didn't listen and continued on. Blake and Hunter looked at each other before they nodded and gave chase._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Labour Camp, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early evening, a few minutes later**_

_As Blake and Hunter finally caught up with the three Wind Ninja Rangers as they hid behind a sand back plotting how they were going to free the innocent people, they knew what was going through their three best friends heads._

"_We've got to rescue all these people," Tori whispered. "We can't let the Grinders get away with this."_

"_We won't," Shane promised. "We're going to..."_

"_No, we're not going to do anything," Hunter interrupted. "We won't be able to face that many Grinders."_

"_Hunter's right, guys," Blake whispered. "If we had our Ranger Powers, we might be able to take the Grinders out but, without them, we're hopelessly outnumbered."_

"_But..." Shane, Dustin and Tori began._

_Hunter shook his head."There's nothing that we can do for them, guys," he said simply. "Come on. I don't know about you, guys, but I've seen enough to report to Sensei Watanabe."_

_Then, at that moment, Hunter and Blake began to slip back into the trees. Although they didn't like abandoning the people, Shane, Dustin and Tori quickly followed after them both as they knew that they were both right._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, mid-evening, some time later**_

"_Sensei, you'll never believe..." Shane began as they descended the stairs into Ninja Ops. _

"_We'll talk over dinner," Sensei Watanabe said simply. "Cam?"_

_Cam nodded as he dished out dinner to everyone before they all sat in a circle around the coffee table._

"_Well?" Sensei Watanabe asked._

"_Sensei, they're..." Tori began as she began to tell him what they had found out during their scouting mission._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, mid-evening, some time later**_

"_You did the right thing," Sensei Watanabe said finally after a long period of silence since they had told him about what they had seen during the mission. He had used this time to consider what they had done as he sat there eating dinner with the five of them. Marah and Kapri were absent and Cam was quiet._

_There were another few moments of silence as everyone finished their dinner._

"_My father is right," Cam said grimly. "There's nothing that we can do for the people right now. Our main priority has to be surviving here in the Wind Ninja Academy until a time comes where we can free them from the labour camps created by the Grinders."_

"_I guess," Shane said quietly. The others remained silent._

"_You've all had a long day," Sensei Watanabe said grimly. "Now, you must all get some rest as we're going to have a longer day tomorrow during which we must collect additional supplies to survive upon. Cam, due to a shortage of beds, you're going to have to share your room with the five of them."_

"_Yes, dad," Cam replied simply. "Come on, guys, we should go."_

_Without another word, the six Ninja Storm Rangers left Ninja Ops. Sensei Watanabe watched them go and sighed._

Shane, Dustin, Tori, Blake and Hunter did the right thing but who knows how it will effect them in the future. _He thought as he sat there._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Cam's bedroom, the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late evening, some time later**_

"_Well, guys, here it is," Cam said as they arrived in his bedroom. "I'm sorry that it's a bit of a mess but, unfortunately, I've never had time to properly clear it up."_

_Shane, Dustin, Tori, Blake and Hunter looked around and sighed grimly. They knew that the first thing they would do in the morning would be to clean the room up. It was an absolute mess._

_All sorts of technical equipment lay scattered across the desk and floor whilst plans for various things were pinned to the wall. Pictures of Cam, his parents and the five of them were on a window ledge behind the bed and it was the only part of his room which had been kept neat. _

_Not even his bed was neat. Although it was made, various scrolls were strewn across it. Cam hastily picked all of them up from the bed and put them away in the messy drawer._

"_There's only one bed," Shane noted._

"_Tori can have it," Cam replied. "There are two sofas and a number of chairs in my living room next door which we can sleep upon with some blankets to keep us warm."_

_Shane and Dustin groaned but Hunter and Blake chuckled._

"_If you two aren't up for it then you know what the alternative is," Blake and Hunter replied._

_Both Shane and Dustin grimaced and turned pale as they thought about the unpleasant alternative._

"_No, we're fine," they replied hastily as Tori went over to the bed and sat upon it._

"_Well?" she began as she stared at them to suggest that she wanted some privacy to get some sleep._

"_We'll get the blankets and get some sleep next door. Good night, Tori," Cam replied quickly. Everyone but Blake soon left to go into the living room._

"_Good night, Tori," Blake said with a soft smile._

"_Good night, Blake," she replied. "I'm glad that you're here, you know."_

_He nodded and, without another word, he went through into the living room to get some sleep. Tori lay back on the bed for a moment and listened as they argued about who was sleeping where next door. She smiled._

_She was certainly glad that Cam had offered her the bed at that moment because the argument sounded quite heated._

_The argument continued for several more minutes until everyone grew quiet. Then, as calmly as possible, Tori pulled the duvet around herself before she quickly fell asleep like the others next door in the living room did._


	4. Lost Memories: The Old Ways

Thunder Storm Odyssey

Part of the Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart Universe

A Power Rangers Fanfiction

Lost Memories: The Old Ways

by Lauraac2110

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, several weeks after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, mid-morning**_

"_You know what, I'm tired of hanging around and doing nothing!" Conner burst out as he and Ethan watched the Wind and Thunder Ninjas train away under the instruction of Shane, Dustin and Tori. _

"_Well, what can we go and do?" Ethan replied. "Nothing, my friend. Sensei Watanabe expressly told us that we would have to wait a few weeks before we could enter the Wind Ninja Academy to learn their ways because of, and I quote, necessity."_

"_We can do something," Conner countered as he suddenly had an idea. "We can go away and find a spot that the Wind and Thunder Ninjas aren't using right now. Then, we can train there by ourselves. The Sensei wouldn't mind us doing so as long as we're not interfering with the "Ninja lessons"."_

"_That's brilliant, Conner," Ethan exclaimed. "I know of just the place. Come on."_

_Conner nodded and followed Ethan as they set off towards the back of the Ninja Academy._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Secluded Grove, several weeks after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, mid-morning, a few minutes later **_

"_There's no one here," Conner noted as he looked around the grove."This place is perfect."_

"_I'm going to be a little rusty, Conner, so go easy on me," Ethan warned as he got into a fighting stance. Nearby, Conner also got into a fighting stance. _

"_Don't worry, I'll be as rusty as you today," Conner replied with a smile. "I haven't trained in a long time."_

"_Neither have I," Ethan admitted. "Ready?"_

"_Ready," Conner agreed as he attacked. At first, Ethan struggled to defend himself before he quickly remember some of what Dr O. had taught him._

_Unknown to them both, whilst hidden amongst the branches of a nearby tree, an amused Sensei Watanabe watched them as he poured over some of the ancient scrolls. These scrolls just happened to detail what had happened to the lost art of Ninjetti and those who practised it. _

_As Sensei Watanabe watched them, he started to notice that Conner and Ethan were using a strange technique which he had never seen before. For a few moments, he was puzzled so he looked up to watch them extremely closely but he still couldn't recognise their technique. _

_Then, as he glanced back down at the ancient scrolls again, he began to notice slight similarities between their technique and Ninjetti. However, it wasn't until Conner used the Falcon stances against Ethan that Sensei Watanabe actually realised that they were using some of the techniques of Ninjetti mixed in with a number of different fighting styles._

No way... _he thought as he watched them struggle against each other. _But that is impossible!

"_Take this!" Ethan exclaimed as he leapt up into the last move of the Crane stances, the flip-kick, and struck Conner in the chest. The move threw Conner to the ground and it left Sensei Watanabe stunned as he watched them. _

"_That's why I'm the best!" Ethan smiled as he helped Conner to his feet. "Again?"_

"_Again," Conner agreed. "And, this time, I promise you that I'll outclass you."_

"_Yeah right," Ethan countered as they got back into fighting stances. Then, they started to battle again._

I don't believe this. _Sensei Watanabe thought. _I must get a second opinion to make sure that I'm not seeing things.

_And, without another thought, Sensei Watanabe quietly slipped away to find his son. If anyone could give an objective opinion on this matter, Cam could._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, several weeks after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning**_

_As his father rushed into Ninja Operations, Cam Watanabe sat at the computer. He was monitoring a patrol of Grinders which was hanging around the waterfall. If they didn't move, the Wind and Thunder Ninjas wouldn't be able to fetch themselves supplies today._

"_Cam! You've got to come quickly!" Sensei Watanabe exclaimed._

"_What is it dad?" Cam asked._

"_I'll tell you on the way there, son," he replied. "Come on!"_

_Cam sighed. Then, he got up and followed straight after his father as they both headed back out to the secluded grove._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Secluded Grove, several weeks after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, a few minutes later**_

"_Dad, are you sure that you weren't seeing things?" Cam whispered as they finally reached the secluded grove. They were hidden in the branches of the very same tree that Sensei Watanabe had been in earlier. Conner and Ethan were still training in the grove below them._

"_Yes, I am sure," Sensei Watanabe hissed as he unfurled one of the ancient scrolls. "They were using the Ninjetti technique. Watch."_

_Cam watched Conner and Ethan as they continued to fight but it really wasn't until Conner had to resort to the Falcon stances to defend himself from a powerful onslaught from Ethan that he began to believe his father._

"_But that's impossible," Cam whispered as he turned pale. "The art of Ninjetti has been long lost. There's no way that..." _

"_My thoughts exactly," his father replied. "So where could they have learned it from?"_

"_I don't know. They could have learned it from anyone," Cam replied as they watched Conner and Ethan below as they continued to struggle against each other. "All I do know is that we can't afford to let them enter the academy, dad. If we do, their technique could be destroyed completely."_

"_I agree. We can't lose the rare opportunity to study them to see the old ways in action," Sensei Watanabe agreed as Conner knocked Ethan to the ground with a corkscrew kick._

"_No fair!" Ethan protested as Conner helped him to his feet._

"_Oh, it's perfectly fair," Conner disagreed. "Just because you've never been able to pull off any of Dr O.'s signature moves doesn't mean that I can't use them. Again?"_

"_No, thanks," Ethan exclaimed as he breathed heavily. "I'm exhausted." _

"_So am I," Conner replied grimly as he too stood there breathing heavily._

"_Of course, they would have learned all of their techniques from Dr Tommy Oliver," Sensei Watanabe hissed. "But where could he have learned the Ninjetti technique from?"_

"_That's a mystery. Conner and Ethan might know but, then again, Dr Oliver could have kept it an absolute secret. We'll only ever find out if we tell them why we're not going to let them join the academy, dad," Cam replied._

"_We're not going to do that, son," Sensei Watanabe replied. "They can never know the truth."_

"_Never?" Cam replied._

"_Never. Come on," Sensei Watanabe said grimly. "We'll go find Marah and Kapri. Then, we'll get them to fetch Conner and Ethan so that I can break the bad news to them."_

_Cam nodded and they left just as Ethan and Conner got their breath back._

"_Let's go have some lunch," Ethan suggested. "Then, after that, we could always start training again."_

_Conner sighed. "Let's go."_

_Without another word, both Conner and Ethan left for their dormitory._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, several weeks after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early afternoon, some time later**_

_As Eric returned from his Ninja Training, Conner and Ethan had just finished eating lunch._

"_Hey guys, how did you enjoy sitting around doing nothing today?" Eric smiled._

"_It was cool," Conner shrugged. "How was your ninja training?"_

_Eric made a face. "Boring as usual but it is much better than the alternative," he replied grimly. _

_Ethan chuckled. "Of course it would be." _

"_So, what have the esteemed Marah and Kapri cooked up for us for lunch today?" Eric asked as he completely ignored what Ethan had just said._

"_Fish again. We've already had ours," Conner replied as he passed Eric the remaining portion of fish on a plate. Eric sighed._

"_I hate fish," he complained._

"_Well, if you don't like it, you can starve," Marah said to Eric as she entered with Kapri. Then, she snatched the plate away from him. _

"_Oh, fish is fine," Eric lied but Marah shook her head. _

"_Too late," she replied. "You should've thought about the consequences of your words before you said them."_

"_Marah, you should really give him it," Conner said gently. "He'll be a nightmare to live with for the next few days if you don't."_

_Kapri shrugged. "That's not our problem. You and Ethan have to come with us. The Sensei wants to speak with you," she replied._

_Conner and Ethan groaned. Then, they followed Marah and Kapri out of the room as Eric sighed._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, several weeks after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early afternoon, some time later**_

"_You sent for us, Sensei?" Conner said respectfully as he and Ethan followed Marah and Kapri in. Sensei Watanabe sat in the chair at Ninja Operations with his back to them and, at the sound of Conner's voice, he turned to face them. Then, he dismissed his nieces and they left with a polite nod to their uncle. _

"_Yes," Sensei Watanabe replied grimly. "I'm afraid that I'm unable to let you join the Wind or Thunder Ninja Academies for the foreseeable future. Our entire efforts are now being focused upon surviving here, in the academy, until the time comes when we can go back out into the world. Hence, I can't spare any of the few teachers to teach you the ways of the Ninja."_

"_But..." Ethan burst out before he quickly fell silent as Conner took over._

"_We've learned to learn quickly because of what we once were so surely it wouldn't be that hard to teach us?" Conner asked._

"_I'm sorry but my decision is final. You won't be entering the Wind or Thunder Ninja Academies," Sensei Watanabe said firmly. "You may now go."_

"_But..." Ethan began. However, before he could say anything else, Conner angrily stormed off so he had to follow after him._

_As Sensei Watanabe watched them go, Cam slipped out from where he had been hiding behind the bookcase filled with scrolls nearby._

"_I hope you know what you're doing, dad," Cam warned._

"_So do I," Sensei Watanabe sighed. "They'll keep trying to win me over but I'm not going to budge. They have been taught the art of Ninjetti, the Old Ways, and we can't have their knowledge corrupted by our ways. One day, when we can tell them, they'll understand that this was necessary."_

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Secluded Grove, several weeks after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early afternoon, a few minutes later**_

"_I don't believe it!" Conner exclaimed in frustration as he struck a nearby tree with his fist."After all this time, they're not going to let us join the academies. We could be of some use in this place, especially because of what we once were, if we were allowed to learn but, because of so called "staffing issues", we're stuck with nothing to do with ourselves for the foreseeable future."_

"_I know. It sucks, man," Ethan said as Conner struck the nearby tree in frustration again. "However, it's not the end of the story. We can still learn."_

"_How? They're not going to teach us!" Conner exclaimed as Ethan smiled._

"_I know. However, we can still teach ourselves by watching them," he replied. "And, more importantly, by keeping up a rigorous program of training against each other. We'll show them, one day, Conner, that we're dedicated academy material."_

_Conner instantly calmed down. "That's brilliant, Ethan!" he exclaimed._

"_I know," Ethan smirked. _

"_Let's do it, then," Conner replied as he got into a fighting stance. Ethan nodded as he followed suit. Then, they attacked._

"_I'm going to beat you again, Ethan," Conner promised as they fought back and forth._

"_You're going to try," Ethan countered. "When I'm the one who is victorious, I'm make sure that you regret your words."_

"_We'll see," Conner replied simply as they continued to train together._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, several weeks after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early evening, some time later**_

_When Conner and Ethan returned, Eric was in the midst of eating his dinner. They were both exhausted._

"_You've been gone a long time. What did Sensei want you for?" Eric asked as he ate dinner. Conner and Ethan took up their plates and shrugged._

"_He just wanted to let us know that we're not allowed to join the academy, that's all. The rest of the time, we've been training," Conner replied with a shrug._

"_What?" Eric exclaimed. "And you're not angry about it?"_

"_Of course, we're angry," Ethan replied simply. Eric didn't look at him as he spoke and was instead looking at the wall. "However, as a friend of ours taught us, anger isn't the best solution to our problem."_

"_We're both determined to prove our worth to Sensei Watanabe. We're going to train rigorously until we're good enough to force him to reconsider," Conner continued._

"_Good on you, bro," Eric cheered as he finished dinner. "Well, I've got to go. I've got to go fetch supplies with the other ninjas but I'll be back later."_

_Conner nodded as Eric left without another word. Once he was sure that Eric had gone, Ethan sighed in relief. They continued eating in silence for a while and, when they were both finished, it was Ethan who finally broke it. _

"_Thank goodness. He definitely doesn't like me, Conner," Ethan warned. "He's such a jerk."_

_Conner grimaced, "He doesn't know why I like you either." _

"_I'm glad that you didn't turn out that way, Conner," Ethan said as he smiled. _

"_I could've," Conner countered. "If I hadn't met you, Kira or Dr O., I would have become a total jerk too."_

_Ethan sighed as he yawned. "I'm going to get some sleep, Conner. I'm exhausted after all that intensive training that we put in this afternoon."_

"_So am I," Conner agreed as he yawned as well. They put their plates onto the nearby table and leapt up into their bunks._

"_Well, we had better get some decent rest," Ethan said as he pulled the blankets around himself. "We're going to be doing a lot of training for a long time."_

"_Good night, Ethan," Conner smiled._

"_Yeah, good night," Ethan yawned again as he closed his eyes. Conner soon followed his example and, seconds later, they were soon both asleep._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, several weeks after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late evening, some time later**_

"_Hey, Conner, wake up!" Eric hissed in Conner's ear as he returned to find them both asleep. Conner groaned._

"_Go away, Eric. I'm tired," Conner replied as he opened his eyes. _

"_Hey, I was just wondering... How exactly did you know about everyone here?" Eric said. "I asked Tori when we were gathering supplies but she wouldn't tell me a thing."_

_Conner groaned. "You woke me up just to ask me that?" he hissed. "Couldn't it have waited?"_

_Eric shook his head. "No. So, tell me, how did you know about everyone here?"_

"_I told you before that it was a secret, Eric, and it's going to remain one," Conner replied with a smile. "Now, good night." _

_And, despite Eric's attempts to pester him further about it, Conner closed his eyes and went back to sleep._

_Eric sighed. _One day, I'll find out the truth. _He vowed silently to himself. _

_Then, without another word, Eric jumped into his bunk and quickly fell asleep._


	5. Interlude Memories: Finally Free

Thunder Storm Odyssey

Part of the Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart Universe

A Power Rangers Fanfiction

Interlude Memories: Finally Free

by Lauraac2110

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, The Abyss Of Evil, the fateful day of the Accident many days ago, late morning**_

_As the Abyss of Evil burst open because of an overload of evil energy, Lothor and his minions leapt free of their prison and landed upon the sandy desert which had been, long ago, a grassy wasteland._

_Lothor cackled for a moment._

"_Lothor?" Zurgane asked puzzled._

_Lothor grinned evilly in reply . "We're finally free! And, now, we can pursue my revenge against my brother, Kanoi!" he exclaimed._

"_But Lothor..." Choobo began. Lothor instantly struck him down._

"_Do not contradict me. We're going to get revenge for what my brother and his Rangers did to us," Lothor insisted. "And that's final."_

_There were several moments of silence between Lothor and his minions before Lothor spoke up._

"_We had best start searching for somewhere to operate from until we subjugate the Wind Ninja Academy to our rule," he said grimly. "Move out."_

_And, without any protests, Lothor's minions followed him as they began to search for a suitable hideout._

_**Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Lothor's Secret Underground Hideout, the fateful day of the Accident many days ago, early afternoon, some time later**_

_As Lothor stepped into the underground caverns beside the beach, which Zurgane had accidentally stumbled upon, he knew that they were perfect for his plans. _

_He turned to his minions. "Go gather up supplies and prepare for a final assault upon the Wind Ninja Academy," he ordered. None of them moved so he snapped angrily at them as he continued with,"At once."_

_They all fled instantly and Lothor sighed. "Soon, my brother, you and your Rangers will regret ever banishing me to the Abyss of Evil," he vowed aloud to himself._


	6. Chapter 1: The Sudden Storm

Thunder Storm Odyssey

Part of the Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart Universe

A Power Rangers Fanfiction

Chapter 1: The Sudden Storm

by Lauraac2110

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, current day, early morning_

"You know, it was really nice of you to invite us to share breakfast with you this morning, Sensei," Ethan said respectfully as he, Conner and the six Ninja Storm Rangers sat outside the Wind Ninja Academy around a massive breakfast buffet with Marah, Kapri and Sensei Watanabe.

"You're our friends, guys," Cam replied with a smile. "Over the last year or so especially, we've all become really close and I felt that it was finally time for you to join us in the morning for a change. It was pretty easy for me to convince my father into letting you. Besides, I don't think that Eric is very good company at all in the morning."

Ethan grimaced. "You've got that right," he muttered.

Conner nodded. "I hate to admit it but Eric's awfully nasty towards Ethan. I don't know what my twin brother has against him but, no matter what I've tried, I haven't managed to get him to like Ethan at all."

"Personally, I don't see why you don't just show him some of your killer moves, Ethan, to get him off your back," Hunter said grimly.

"I can't. Eric doesn't know that we were..." Ethan began as he trailed off.

"Power Rangers," Dustin added in.

"Yeah and, if I fight him, I'll jeopardise that secrecy," Ethan finished.

"But with all that training that you've been putting in over the past two years, you would be able to trash him," Shane exclaimed.

"Violence should only be used as a last resort, Shane," Sensei Watanabe snapped. Everyone was startled by his words as the Sensei never usually reacted that way unless something was bothering him. However, only Cam seemed to be worried. "Speaking of your training, how has it been going?"

Conner smiled. "Well, as you all know, we've been at the level Dr O. trained us to since this time last year. Over the last year, we've been reducing the number of hours that we've been training for because we're really only maintaining our skills now," he said calmly. "We're now at the stage when we only need to train for a few hours every day and that has allowed us to spend more time with all of you over the past year."

"Most of the ninjas have almost completed their ninja training," Tori replied. "So we've also had more time on our hands over the past year which we've been spending with all of you as well."

There were several moments of silence before Cam spoke up. "Dad, is something wrong?" he asked.

"Something seems very wrong with the world this morning, Cam," Sensei Watanabe replied grimly. "I've got a really bad feeling about today."

There were another few moments of silence. Then, Hunter surprised everyone by speaking up.

"I'm afraid that I agree with you, Sensei," he said grimly. "Something does seem very wrong with the world this morning."

"Hmm. Perhaps we shouldn't head out to the waterfall and the lake today," Blake murmured.

"There's a waterfall and a lake near here?" Conner blinked.

"It's not far from the secluded grove," Tori replied simply. "We were going to invite you to come with us but I'm not so sure that we should go now either."

"No. You deserve a well earned break, guys," Cam said firmly. "You must go and enjoy yourselves. I'll train the ninjas in your absence and, if anything happens, we'll call you straight back."

"I'm sure that we'll know about anything when it happens, anyway," Shane assured. "So, how about it, Conner, Ethan?"

"We're in," Ethan assured. "I bet your glad that you learned to swim now, Conner."

Conner smiled. "Yeah," he replied simply.

"So, when do we leave?" Ethan asked.

"Well, we had better gather up some lunch to bring with us..." Tori began.

Marah and Kapri smiled.

"You don't have to worry about that," Marah assured.

"Marah and I figured that you would be going today so we prepared you a good lunch last night. Here," Kapri replied as she passed Shane and Dustin two bundles.

"There's some fresh bread in one and some fresh fruit in the one bundle. The other one contains your swimwear," Marah smiled. "Go enjoy yourselves."

"Last one there will have to clean up Ninja Ops tomorrow," Dustin smiled as he got to his feet and vanished in a ninja streak.

"Hey, no fair," Conner exclaimed as he and Ethan got to their feet. "Using ninja streak is cheating, Dustin!"

"We'll see you there, guys! It looks like one of you are going to be cleaning up Ninja Ops tomorrow!" Blake smiled as he, Hunter, Shane and Tori got to their feet and followed after Dustin.

"Wait!" Ethan called after them. "None of you told us how to..."

However, it was too late as they were already gone. Cam chuckled.

"The waterfall is north of the secluded grove. Good luck, guys," he informed them. Conner and Ethan looked at each other and then got to their feet. Seconds later, they were off at full speed towards the waterfall.

Sensei Watanabe sighed. "You had best get to ninja training," he said to Cam. Cam nodded.

"I will, dad. If you need me, we'll be training in the southern section of the forest," he replied as he got to his feet and left.

Sensei Watanabe sighed as he sat there.

_Something is definitely dreadfully wrong today. Let's just hope that we're not going to be the ones at the centre of the storm today. _He thought. _And let's just hope that he isn't returning as I believe him to be..._

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Forest, Southern Section, mid-morning, a few minutes later_

As Cam appeared in front of the ninjas, all of them instantly became confused.

"Sensei, aren't Shane, Dustin and Tori taking us for the lesson today?" Eric asked.

"No, Eric," Cam replied simply. "They're busy doing other things today. I'm taking you for the lesson today."

"But Sensei..." another ninja began.

"No buts," Cam replied simply. "And, today, I'll be assessing each of your progress to see whether you are ready or not."

"Ready for what?" another ninja began.

"Graduation," Cam replied simply as he got into a fighting stance. "So, who would like to go first?"

There were a number of groans and Cam sighed.

_This is going to take a while. _He thought. _Shane, Dustin and Tori had better appreciate this when they get back._

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Waterfall Lake, late morning, some time later_

When Ethan finally arrived a few minutes after Conner had, he was puffing and panting in exhaustion.

"Man, did you have to go so fast?" Ethan exclaimed as Conner smiled to him.

"Never, ever, challenge an athlete to a race. You'll always lose," Conner warned as he searched through the bundle of swimwear.

"Where are the ninjas anyway?" Ethan asked.

"They're getting changed. Here, these have to be yours," Conner replied as he tossed Ethan a pair of blue trunks.

"Hey, what about you?" Ethan asked.

"They've left me red ones," Conner replied as he showed Ethan them. "Come on, let's go get changed."

And, with that, Conner and Ethan left to get changed.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Waterfall Lake, late morning, a few minutes later_

When Conner and Ethan returned, Blake and Tori were lounging by the lakeside whilst Shane, Dustin and Hunter were up at the top of the waterfall.

"Hey, guys, up here!" Dustin called to Conner and Ethan.

"We're coming," Conner and Ethan called back.

"Hey, Tori, Blake, aren't you both going to come up there?" Ethan asked.

"No, we're fine," Blake assured. "You both go ahead."

Tori smiled as she nodded in agreement. Conner and Ethan shrugged.

"Well, if you say so," Conner replied as he and Ethan climbed up the cliff to reach the top of the waterfall. Whilst the five of them began to clown around up there by throwing each other off the waterfall, Blake and Tori watched with a smile.

"It's at times like this I remember the good old days," Blake sighed. "Before the Venjix invasion."

"Yeah," Tori sighed. "It's at times like this that I remember Kelly and I wish that we had saved her."

"Don't blame yourself, Tori," Blake said quite firmly. "You couldn't have done anything to save her. It was already too late for her and everyone else when we went scouting that day."

"Like most of the things in my life, I'm usually too late," she sighed.

"Don't say that," he said quite firmly again as he placed his hand upon hers. This contact startled her. "You weren't too late to save me, Hunter and the Thunder Ninja Academy students from the Grinders."

"Yeah," she said as she looked shyly into his eyes which, in the gentle sunlight, appeared to be twinkling. She was even more startled when he smiled brilliantly at her as his grip upon her hand tightened a little.

There was a moment of silence between them before Tori broke it.

"Blake..." she began. However, she didn't finish as his placed a gentle finger upon her lips.

"Shh," he smiled as he leaned in closely to her. "I don't think that you need to say it."

Then, without saying anything else, he leaned in close to kiss her. As soon as his lips touched hers, a brilliant red blush began to creep up her cheeks. However, their kiss continued as they sat upon the bank oblivious to their surroundings.

"Hey, guys, look," Dustin hissed quietly to Shane and Hunter as soon as he noticed what was happening between them.

Shane and Hunter instantly turned to Tori and Blake upon the bank as Conner and Ethan dived into the lake. As soon as Shane saw them both, a mischievous grin spread across his face.

"Hey, guys, we could..." Shane began as he whispered a rough plan to Hunter and Dustin. Both of them grinned.

"That's brilliant," Dustin hissed quietly in reply. "Let's do it."

And, with that, the three of them dived under the water. Minutes later, just as Tori and Blake still continued their passionate kiss, Shane, Hunter and Dustin resurfaced beside Blake and Tori without them noticing.

Then, the three of them pulled both Blake and Tori into the water before either of could react. Minutes later, as Tori and Blake resurfaced, Shane, Dustin and Hunter instantly started howling in laughter because they were blushing so heavily. Tori's hair was also quite a mess and that also made Shane, Dustin and Hunter laugh even harder.

"We had best get out of the water, Ethan," Conner hissed to Ethan as they watched from where they were swimming about nearby.

"What?" Ethan asked.

"Trust me," Conner hissed in reply. Ethan nodded and they swam towards the bank as Tori grew angry.

"How dare you?" Tori burst out angrily. "You're going to pay for that!"

"Oh, oh..." Dustin began as he realised what she was about to do whilst he took a hesitant step back. However, he, Shane and Hunter were already too late to stop her.

As Conner and Ethan got out onto the bank, Shane, Dustin and Hunter were thrown from the lake by a powerful column of water. Conner and Ethan watched in awe as it threw them into the trees and both of them started to laugh when it became apparent that Shane, Dustin and Hunter were stuck in one of the trees.

"Don't worry, we'll get them," Conner promised as he dragged Ethan away with him back into the trees. As soon as they were gone, Blake smiled.

"Wow, remind me to never make you angry," he said as he gently swept her hair away from her face. She smiled.

"I don't think that you ever could," she replied simply. "Now, where were we?"

"I think that we were here," Blake replied as he leaned forward to kiss her again. Unlike before, it wasn't as prolonged as they quickly broke up as soon as they heard everyone returning. Shane, Dustin and Hunter were covered in leaves and twigs so it was Blake and Tori's turn to laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny. If we could..." Dustin began before Shane quickly shut him up.

"Never mind, Dustin," Hunter replied simply.

"Last one in is going to have to join Ethan cleaning up Ninja Ops tomorrow!" Conner exclaimed as he rushed past the ninjas with Ethan and leapt into the water. Shane, Dustin and Hunter all looked at each other before they started a mad dash towards the lake.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Waterfall Lake, early afternoon, some time later_

"Man, I can't believe that I'm going to have to clear up Ninja Ops with Ethan, tomorrow," Dustin complained as all of them sat around the bundle containing their lunch after they had all had fun and had gotten changed back into their normal clothes.

"That's just your luck, Dustin," Ethan shrugged as they all helped themselves to their share of the food. "Don't worry, though, as I've got a plan that will reduce the cleaning that we'll have to do by two thirds. Trust me."

Dustin nodded as he took a bit of bread. "It had better be good enough to avoid Sensei's detection," he warned.

"Dustin, I was able to hide that I was a Power Ranger from everyone. I'll easily be able to hide my cunning plan from Sensei," Ethan boasted. "Just you wait until tomorrow to see."

Dubiously, Dustin nodded as Conner chuckled.

"Do you remember how you, Kira and I first met?" Conner asked.

"Oh yeah. Principal Randall caught you truanting and Kira playing music whilst she blamed the "sprinkler incident" upon me," Ethan replied with warm smile. "There was no evidence linking me to that crime yet she still insisted upon putting me in detention with the two of you."

"We know that you did it. Your so-called accomplice confessed to us a few days after the incident that you were responsible for the sprinklers," Conner countered.

Ethan sighed. "Ok, so maybe I was responsible for changing the program that runs the sprinklers but I wasn't responsible for the incident," he admitted. "I had no control over the timing of when the sprinklers went off."

"That's sounds quite funny," Shane admitted as he started to laugh.

"You had to have seen it. Principal Randall and all of the pupils got utterly soaked whilst I remained nice and dry under my umbrella," Ethan laughed.

"You must have had some good times just like we did," Tori said. "I must admit that mine was when Cam became a Ranger, to be honest. It was so nice to see him finally realising his dream to do some good with his ninja training."

"Mine was when Blake and Hunter joined us. It felt nice to stop fighting them," Dustin admitted.

"As for us, it has to be meeting you Wind Ninja Rangers," Hunter and Blake said together. "Without you guys, we would never have broken free of Lothor's manipulation."

Everyone looked to Shane.

"What about you, Shane?" Conner asked. "What's your best moment?"

"When we defeated Lothor, I saw just how far we had come," Shane replied simply. "I saw how strong we had become as a team, and as friends, whilst I saw just how much I had improved from the novice I was originally. That was my best moment."

There were a few moments of silence.

"What about you two?" Shane asked. Conner and Ethan looked at each other.

"There's only one moment that I can think of as our best," Ethan replied.

"Me too. There was this time that Dr O. was in a coma and, whilst he was in a coma, we lost our powers to one of Mesogog's monsters," Conner said.

"What happened?" Tori asked curiously as they continued to eat.

"Well..." Conner began.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Forest, Southern Section, mid-afternoon, some time later_

As the Kelzaks attacked, the ninjas were caught by surprise for a moment before they began to form up into an effective defence as they had been taught.

Whilst the ninjas fought the Kelzaks, Cam had to contend with Zurgane and Choobo.

"How did you escape the Abyss?" Cam demanded as they circled. "And where is Lothor?"

"How we escaped is none of your business," Choobo snapped.

"As for Lothor, he's busy dealing with your father, Samurai Ranger," Zurgane replied. "And, whilst he's doing that, we've got to dispose of you."

"You'll try," Cam countered as he attacked them both. Seconds later, they were locked in a heated battle for survival.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, mid-afternoon, at that very moment_

As Sensei Watanabe stood in front of the fallen Marah and Kapri to protect them, Lothor cackled.

"Brother, why would you defend those worthless fools?" Lothor asked.

"You're no brother of mine, Lothor. The man that I knew as Kiya is long dead," Sensei Watanabe replied simply. "Besides, they're my family and I won't abandon them to your mercy."

"You'll regret standing against me," Lothor replied as he fired a blast of dark ninja energy at Sensei Watanabe who responded with a blast of powerful ninja energy back. When the two blasts clashed between them, there was a massive explosion of white light and a powerful roaring sound spread out from the space between them.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Waterfall Lake, mid-afternoon, also at that very moment_

"What was that?" Dustin demanded as they saw the massive explosion at the Wind Ninja Academy.

"I don't know but Cam must be in trouble. We had better go help him and the students," Shane replied as everyone got to their feet.

"No," Conner replied. "I think Sensei Watanabe is going to need your help more."

"You guys go help the Sensei whilst we go help Cam and the students," Ethan said.

The five Ninja Storm Rangers paused for a moment before they nodded.

"All right. What about the swimwear, though?" Tori asked.

"We'll get it," Conner replied simply as he picked up the bundle. "We've got to hurry. Where will we find Cam and the students?"

"They'll be training in the southern section of the forest," Dustin replied. "It's south-east of here."

"Good luck," Conner smiled as they split up and rushed away to help Cam and his father.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Forest, Southern Section, mid-afternoon, a few minutes later_

As the ninjas students beat back the Kelzaks, Cam was struggling against both Zurgane and Choobo. Eventually, they managed to throw him backwards and he struggled not to fall to the ground.

"Give up, Samurai Ranger," Choobo hissed.

"No," Cam replied defiantly. "Never."

"Then, you'll be destroyed," Zurgane replied as he leapt at Cam.

"Not today, he won't," Conner replied as he and Ethan leapt at Zurgane and kicked him to one side. Then, they put themselves in front of Cam.

"Nice timing but my dad..." Cam began.

"Don't worry about him. They've gone to help him," Ethan assured.

"Right now..." Conner began as he dropped the bundle containing the soaking swimwear, "We've got to worry about ourselves."

"Right," Cam agreed as the three of them got into fighting stances. Then, they charged at Zurgane and Choobo.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, mid-afternoon, at that very moment_

"You're not going to beat me, Kanoi," Lothor warned as they continued to battle.

"That's what you think, Lothor," Sensei Watanabe replied.

The fight between them intensified as they fought back and forth, back and forth, until, eventually, Lothor overcame the Sensei and threw him to the ground.

As Lothor cackled in triumph, Sensei Watanabe growled as he struggled into a sitting position.

"You haven't won, Lothor," he warned.

"That's what you think, brother," Lothor replied. "From where I'm standing, it looks like I have."

"From where we're standing, it still looks like you haven't, Lothor. Sensei get out of the way. Now, guys!" Shane exclaimed as the five Ninja Storm Rangers revealed that they were standing in a circle around Lothor and the Sensei. Blake and Hunter stood together whilst everyone else stood apart. Sensei Watanabe leapt to his feet and dragged both Marah and Kapri out of the line of fire.

"Power of Air!" Shane called as he entered a stance to summon his ninja powers. Then, he fired a tornado of wind at Lothor.

"Power of Earth!" Dustin called as he entered a stance to summon his ninja powers. Then, he fired a barrage of rocks at Lothor.

"Power of Water!" Tori called as she entered a stance to summon her ninja powers. Then, she fired a torrent of water at Lothor.

"Power of Thunder!" Blake and Hunter finally called together as they entered their stances to summon their ninja powers. Then, they fired a bolt of lightning at Lothor.

Because their attack covered all four sides, Lothor had been unable to escape and was thrown high into the air by the force of the attack. When he landed nearby, there was a moment of silence. Then, he got up.

He instantly began to curse and blood seemed to be pouring down from a small wound upon his arm.

The five Ninja Storm Rangers put themselves between Lothor and Sensei Watanabe.

"Had enough yet, Lothor?" Shane demanded.

There was a moment of pause before Lothor growled.

"I'll be back tomorrow morning, fools, and you'll be bowing down to me then," he vowed. Then, he vanished in a flash of shadowy light.

All of the five Ninja Storm Rangers sighed in relief as they relaxed. However, a growing sense of fear and doubt began to take hold of them at the thought of Lothor's return.

_We've definitely got a problem. _Shane thought.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Forest, Southern Section, mid-afternoon, at that very moment_

As Lothor appeared, the ninjas were thrown to the ground. Only Cam, Conner and Ethan managed to remain standing whilst they were still battling Zurgane and Choobo.

"Just remember, nephew, to tell your father that I'm not a force to be messed with," Lothor hissed. "Zurgane, Choobo, we're leaving."

And, without another word, Lothor took his generals, and his Kelzaks, and fled.

Cam blinked. "He's gone," he said simply. Conner and Ethan relaxed.

"For now, Cam," Ethan corrected. "I'm sure, though, that Lothor will be back, along with his minions, soon enough."

"We're lucky that they managed to scare him off," Conner added as he retrieved the bundle.

"Dad!" Cam said as he remembered what Zurgane and Choobo had said. "Come on."

Conner and Ethan nodded and moved to follow Cam back to the Wind Ninja Academy.

"Sensei, wait!" one of them called. "What do we do now?"

"Class is dismissed," Cam replied simply as he turned to them before vanishing in a ninja streak. Conner and Ethan looked at each other before they quickly chased after him.

_They're hiding something. _Eric thought as he watched them go. _Something big._

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, late afternoon, a few minutes later_

"Dad!" Cam called as he arrived back at the Wind Ninja Academy.

From where he stood with Marah, Kapri and the other five Ninja Storm Rangers, Sensei Watanabe instantly turned to where Cam was.

"Cam!" Sensei Watanabe exclaimed as Conner and Ethan arrived back at the Wind Ninja Academy with the bundle of wet swimwear. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, dad, I'm fine," Cam assured. "Conner and Ethan helped me to fend off Zurgane and Choobo. What happened?"

"Lothor fought Sensei," Tori replied. "And, if we hadn't arrived when we did, Lothor could've gained control of the Wind Ninja Academy."

"We fought off Lothor but he vowed to be back in the morning," Shane continued.

"Yeah, I know. Once you forced him to retreat, he showed up whilst we were fighting off Zurgane and Choobo. He wanted me to warn you that he's not a force to be messed with, dad," Cam replied grimly.

Sensei Watanabe sighed. "Come, we must go to Ninja Operations to discuss this further. Marah, Kapri, you must go prepare dinner," he said simply.

Marah and Kapri nodded. Then, after taking the wet bundle from Conner, they left.

After that, the six Ninja Storm Rangers, Conner and Ethan followed Sensei Watanabe to Ninja Ops.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, late afternoon, a few minutes later_

"Sensei, how can Lothor be back?" Shane asked. "He was sent back to the Abyss of Evil after Mesogog's destruction so he shouldn't be here!"

"The Abyss must have been overloaded again," Cam replied simply. "It's the only explanation for Lothor's return."

"It doesn't matter how he escaped," Hunter snapped. "All that matters is that he's here now and we've got a problem. Our victory today was a fluke."

"I have to agree with Hunter on that one," Blake added. "We were lucky that we managed to beat back Lothor today but, next time, he'll be prepared for us. There's no way that we'll be able to defeat him, even if we fight together, without our Ranger powers."

"We won't need them. Rest assured, we will be able to hold off Lothor again when he attacks tomorrow," Sensei Watanabe said grimly.

"No, Sensei. Blake's right," Tori said grimly as Shane and Dustin nodded in agreement with her. "We're going to need Rangers to hold off Lothor. We're just not powerful enough on our own or together to permanently get rid of him."

Conner and Ethan looked to each other.

"We've got one advantage. There are eight former Rangers here," Ethan replied simply. "I promise you that we'll help you wherever we can to hold off Lothor."

"No, you wouldn't be able to go up against him," Sensei Watanabe replied. "He's too powerful for trained ninjas to handle so he'll certainly be too powerful for both of you."

"Then let us enter the academy!" Conner exclaimed in frustration. "Teach us as best as you can before Lothor comes tomorrow to be ninjas. We're fast learners and, as former Power Rangers, you won't have to train us to be combat ready."

"No," Sensei Watanabe snapped firmly. "We've discussed this again and again. I'm not going to let you enter the academy."

He paused for a moment to calm down considerably before he continued, "Without your help, Conner and Ethan, they'll be able to defeat Lothor again with their ninja powers. I'm confident of it."

The six Ninja Storm Rangers were, like Conner and Ethan, unconvinced by this.

"So, dad, what's the plan?" Cam asked uneasily.

"Well..." Sensei Watanabe began.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, very late in the evening, some time later_

"So, do you all understand?" Sensei Watanabe asked.

Everyone nodded as Conner and Ethan yawned grimly as they put the empty bowls that had contained dinner, which had been brought to them by Marah and Kapri at some point earlier in the evening, to one side.

"If it's all right with you, Sensei, we're going to get some rest now," Conner said respectfully. Sensei Watanabe nodded as Conner and Ethan got up before they left.

"We had best go spread the word amongst the students of what has happened. Once you're done, meet up with me in the Inner Sanctum," Sensei Watanabe said as he got to his feet.

"I'll stay here, dad, to monitor for any signs of Lothor just in case he tries to attack us early," Cam replied. Sensei Watanabe nodded as he and the other Ninja Storm Rangers left.

Cam sighed as he sat upon the chair at the computer. It was going to be a long night.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, very late in the evening, a few minutes later_

When Conner and Ethan returned, Eric was awake and waiting for him.

"So, what was the meeting with the Sensei all about? And where did you learn to fight like you did earlier, bro?" Eric asked. "And what's the big secret?"

"The meeting was nothing important, Eric," Conner replied with a shrug. "And I learned to fight that way after all the training Ethan and I have been putting in over the last two years."

"Plus, for your information, there's no big secret," Ethan added.

"I didn't ask you, geek," Eric snapped.

Ethan growled. "That's it. I can't take it any more!" he exclaimed as he stormed out.

"Ethan, wait!" Conner exclaimed as he glared at Eric. Then, he chased after his best friend.

Eric sighed. _I'll find out what you're hiding eventually, Conner. _He vowed to himself. _And, when I do, I'll make sure that you regret ever hiding it from me. _


	7. Chapter 2: Back In Business

Thunder Storm Odyssey

Part of the Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart Universe

A Power Rangers Fanfiction

Chapter 2: Back In Business

by Lauraac2110

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, very late in the evening, a few minutes later_

"Ethan, wait!" Conner exclaimed. "I'm sorry about what he said. Eric can be quite a jerk at times."

Ethan, from where he was standing in the stairwell down to Ninja Ops, sighed as he turned to Conner whilst he headed down the stairs.

"I know, Conner, but I'm starting to get quite sick of it. He doesn't treat me seriously or respectfully at all," he replied. "To be honest, he doesn't take anything seriously. Not even the mess that we're in right now."

"I know. He's a complete and utter jerk," Conner sighed as he followed Ethan down the stairs. "When he acts that way, it makes me glad that I met you, Kira, Trent and Dr O.. If I hadn't, I could have turned out like he has."

Ethan smiled. "A complete and utter jerk too," he said.

Conner nodded. "But don't tell him that I said that."

"I won't," Ethan promised as he sighed. "Conner, I'm worried. Despite the Sensei's reassurances, they barely managed to hold off Lothor's army when they attacked the academy today. Without their Ranger Powers, they're fighting a losing battle and there's nothing that we can do to help them."

Conner sighed. "We've been here for two years and, despite learning all we can from secretly watching their techniques, it's still not enough to be allowed entry into the academy to learn more. Eric rejoined so why won't they let us join as well?"

"You're not allowed to enter the academy because Dr Tommy Oliver taught you everything he knew about an art long lost to us and we don't want his teachings to be corrupted," Cam replied as he revealed that he was sitting in the chair.

"What?" Ethan exclaimed. "So you're telling us that..."

"You're mysteries to us," Cam replied quite simply. "Let me explain. Long ago, the scrolls tell us that the first ninjas, under the command of a warrior known as Ninjor, learned and used a technique called Ninjetti. It was based upon the animal spirits within and those who used it were known to be formidable in battle. However, Ninjor left them and, after a few years, there was a split."

"What happened?" Conner asked curiously.

"A group splintered off from the first ninjas calling themselves Pai Zhua, the Order of the Claw, and continued to use the Ninjetti technique along with kung fu. As far as we know, they left because of an ancient evil known as Dai Shi during the first Beast War and never returned to our folds. Those left behind became the Order of the Elements because they turned away from Ninjetti and vowed never to use it again as it had caused so much destruction during the first Beast War. Both Orders faded into secrecy but, whilst Pai Zhua forgot completely about us and the general ninja techniques, we never forgot about them, although we did turn away from kung fu for some reason, as tales about our history were passed down from master to master down the ranks to the present day," Cam answered.

"How..." Ethan began.

Cam shook his head as he held up a hand to stop Ethan. "Let me finish. It was my father who first accidentally recognised your technique for what it was. He was watching you practice your skills one day and, at the same time, he happened to be pouring over some of our oldest scrolls."

"Let me guess, he was pouring over the ones which detailed what happened to those who practised Ninjetti," Conner said.

Cam nodded. "Yes. You both happened to use a set of moves known as the Falcon and Crane stances whilst he was watching and he recognised that you both practised Ninjetti. At first, my father and I couldn't believe it but, after we both watched you together, we realised that you were indeed using the lost techniques. We talked and, after arriving at a general consensus, we agreed not to let you enter the academy so that your technique would be preserved completely. It took us a while to work out that your teacher had taught you Ninjetti techniques along with a number of his signature moves but, when we did, we were puzzled. We don't know how he managed to learn it in the first place but we were hoping that you might."

Ethan shook his head. "I can't remember him ever telling us."

"Neither can I although..." Conner began.

"Cam, come quickly!" Tori yelled just as she rushed into Ninja Operations.

"Tori, what has happened?" Cam asked instantly.

"You won't believe it unless you see it. Come on," she exclaimed as she grabbed his arm and led him upstairs. Conner and Ethan looked at each other.

"Come on, they're not going to hide anything else from us any more," Conner said as he quickly followed after Tori and Cam.

"Yeah," Ethan agreed as he ran after Conner.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Inner Sanctum, very late in the evening, a few minutes later_

"Whoa..." Ethan said as they saw the glowing depiction of a warrior holding a shield with three spheres arranged in a triangle in the centre of it. The first sphere was also glowing. The writing around it identified the warrior as Ninjor and Ethan turned pale. "Talk about creepy considering..."

"What are they doing here?" Sensei Kanoi Watanabe demanded. Cam turned to see Conner and Ethan standing in the doorway.

"They probably followed me," Cam admitted as Hunter and Blake seized them. "I'm sorry, dad."

"Hey, let go! You're hurting me," Conner exclaimed.

"Get them out of here," Sensei snapped.

"No, dad, wait! They..." Cam began. However, before he could finish, Ethan suddenly managed to break free of Hunter, by knocking him to the ground with a powerful shove, as his skin began to glow with a blue tinge to it.

"Dino-Skin..." Conner breathed. "But that's..."

"Impossible," Ethan finished as he took a deep breath.

"It would mean that..." Conner began as he suddenly closed his eyes. A second later, Blake was on the ground as Conner managed to break free of him. He had also moved as far away as possible from the Wind and Thunder Ninja Rangers.

"Conner, are you thinking what I'm thinking at this moment?" Ethan asked with a smile. Conner nodded.

"I'm certainly thinking what you're thinking," he replied with a grin. "We're back in business."

"How is that possible?" Tori asked.

"The source of their powers must have been re-energized recently," Cam replied simply as he helped Blake and Hunter to their feet.

"Then, we're Power Rangers again," Ethan said. "And Dr O. is alive."

Conner nodded. "I knew that he would survive this."

"Get them both out of here. We can discuss the return of their powers later," Sensei Watanabe snapped to Shane and Dustin.

Shane and Dustin nodded but, before they could reach Conner and Ethan, Cam put himself between them. They stopped in their tracks.

"Dad, I won't let you send them away," Cam warned. "They already know about Ninjor and they know about the reason why they haven't been allowed to join either of the Ninja Academies."

"You told them, Cam?" his father said as he turned pale.

"Yes. And now you must tell them about the prophecy on the ancient scroll which has begun to come to pass this night," Cam replied. "Just as you must tell the others as well."

"Sensei, what prophecy does Cam speak of?" Hunter asked.

Sensei Watanabe sighed. "The ancient scrolls of Ninjor speak of a coming storm. A time of great destruction and despair where the force of Neutrality, which has so far remained uninvolved in the never-ending war between Good and Evil, will rise up to make the final decision about which side wins the never-ending war between them," he began as he took a deep breath.

"The scrolls speak of a Chosen One, marked by many Signs, who will come to us in a flurry of golden light with both the Protector and Messenger at his side during his quest for that which was split and hidden long ago. They also say that the Chosen One will be the one to finally put an end to the greatest of all the evil ninjas, my uncle, Lothor," Cam continued.

"Do you know who the so-called Chosen One is?" Tori asked.

"No, Tori, we don't," Sensei Watanabe replied. "The scrolls are unique in the fact that they don't record the prophecy in anything but words."

"Wicked," Ethan exclaimed with a smile. "A prophecy involving a mysterious Chosen One and the end of Lothor who is a great evil. It sounds like something right out of a comic book."

Conner sighed. "I had forgotten that you were obsessed with those things," he muttered.

"Sensei, how do we know when the storm will arrive?" Dustin asked.

"Good question," Hunter murmured.

"The shield has three globes on it," Cam replied. "The scrolls say that the first will alight with a glow when the Chosen One touches the first box of a great power which was split and hidden long ago. The second will alight with a glow when Lothor deals a great blow to the Elements. And, as for the third..."

"It will alight when the storm is finally approaching," Sensei Watanabe grimaced. "When all three are alight, the scrolls say that the Chosen One will have a matter of hours to stop Lothor before all is lost."

"I hate prophecies," Shane muttered. "Sensei, I know that this is a stupid question but, to be honest, are you sure that the scrolls aren't false?"

Cam sighed. "We're sure that they aren't," he replied as he pointed to the centre shield where two familiar symbols rested. "If they were, how would an ancient warrior be able to replicate these present day symbols?"

"Wow, is that..." Tori began.

"The insignia of the Ninja Academies. Yeah," Cam replied.

"And that's..." Conner said as he hesitantly approached it. "Our insignia. The insignia of the Dino Thunder Rangers."

As Conner touched it, the insignia burst into life. Instantly, Conner stepped back.

"What just happened?" he asked instantly.

"It reacted to your presence," Cam replied simply. "Hmm..."

There were a few moments of silence before Sensei Watanabe sighed.

"There's no more to see here," he said simply. "All of you must get some rest as we're going to have a difficult day tomorrow when Lothor returns."

Conner and Ethan nodded. Then, along with the Wind and Thunder Ninja Rangers, they left the inner sanctum. Cam looked to his father.

"Things are only going to become a fight for survival from now on, dad," he grimaced.

"I know, son," Sensei Watanabe sighed. "Let's just hope that the odds are on our side for a change."

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, very late in the evening, another few minutes later_

When both Conner and Ethan returned to their dormitory, Eric was fast asleep.

"Thank goodness," Ethan sighed. "If he says one more horrible thing to me, I'll make sure that he regrets it."

"Don't worry," Conner assured. "I'll make sure that he regrets it until the end of his days."

Ethan yawned as he jumped into his bunk. "Good night, Conner."

"Good night, Ethan," Conner replied simply as he followed suit. Minutes later, they were both fast asleep.

_Outside Corinth City, Brachiozord Command Centre, the next day, very early in the morning, some time later_

"Are you sure that you can do this, Zordon?" Tommy asked with concern as Alpha handed Zordon the silver case which contained the restored Blue and Red Dino Morphers. The case also held the Shield of Triumph and a letter written by Tommy to assure Conner and Ethan that the other Dino Rangers were fine.

Zordon nodded. "Of course, Tommy. I will go there and be back in a matter of minutes," he reassured as he took up his staff with his free hand. Seconds later, he vanished in a flash of light.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, very early in the morning, a few minutes later_

As Zordon crept into the room, all of its occupants were fast asleep. He gently set the case down at the side of Conner and Ethan's bunks. Then, he smiled as he looked upon the other two Dino Thunder Rangers.

"Blessings of Zordon, sage of Eltar,upon you both," Zordon whispered. "Sleep well, Rangers, as you are going to need to be ready to drive Lothor off tomorrow again."

Zordon sighed. Then, he quietly crept back out of the room again and, as soon as he was safely out in the corridor again, he vanished in a flash of light.

_Outside Corinth City, Brachiozord Command Centre, very early in the morning, a few minutes later_

As Zordon reappeared, he had a smile upon his face.

"Well?" Tommy asked anxiously.

"They are just fine, Tommy," Zordon assured. "And they are still safely within the Wind Ninja Academy."

Tommy sighed in relief at this and smiled.

"I was worried that Sensei Watanabe had thrown them out into the harsh wasteland because of the fact that they entered the sacred inner sanctum of the Wind Ninja Academy without his permission," he admitted freely.

"So, Zordon, what do we do now?" RJ asked grimly.

Zordon sighed. "We are now going to talk about everything else you saw and where we have to go from here. Come, this is not the place to discuss our plans," he said as he turned and made his way through to his bedroom with Alpha following close behind him.

Billy, Tommy and RJ sighed. Then, they grimly followed after Zordon and Alpha into Zordon's bedroom as they made their way to the Observatory.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, early in the morning, some time later_

"Hey, Conner, Ethan, wake up!" Eric exclaimed. Conner and Ethan both groaned at the sound of his voice.

"Guys, you need to see this! Wake up!" he said firmly as he shook them both awake.

"What is it, bro?" Conner asked as he opened his eyes.

"It had better be important. I was having such a good dream for once," Ethan added.

"I woke up this morning and found this silver case sitting here," Eric replied. "I tried to open but I can't seem to get it to budge. Why don't one of you try?"

Both Conner and Ethan instantly looked down at the silver case on the floor. Then, Ethan looked to Conner.

"You should try," Ethan said to Conner. "If it'll open for anyone, it'll probably open for you."

Conner nodded. Then, he hesitantly pulled the case over so that he could attempt to open it. At his touch, the case instantly clicked open. Eric was startled.

"Open it," Eric urged. Conner opened the case instantly and both he and Ethan turned very pale when they saw its the contents.

"No way..." Ethan began.

"I know," Conner agreed.

"It's just a worthless shield, a pair of bracelets with two gems in them and a letter," Eric said with disgust. "What's so important about them?"

"Everything," Conner replied enigmatically as he took the bracelet with the Blue Dino Gem in it out of the case and handed it to Ethan. Then, as Ethan put the bracelet around his wrist, Conner took up the other bracelet with the Red Dino Gem in it and the Shield of Triumph.

"How could he have brought them here, though? There's no way that he could've..." Conner began.

"Perhaps the letter will tell us," Ethan suggested. Conner nodded and took up the letter.

"It's in his handwriting!" Conner exclaimed excitedly.

"I'm confused," Eric admitted. "Just who are we talking about?"

"A legend," Ethan replied simply with excitement. "A great friend and teacher."

"His pop quizzes were terrifying," Conner added with a fond smile.

"I aced every one of them," Ethan chuckled. "Whilst you failed almost all of them."

Conner groaned. "Don't remind me."

Eric was even more disgusted. "You're getting all excited about a letter from a teacher? Oh come on, bro, the geek I can understand but you as well?" he said.

"That's it," Ethan growled. "I've had it with you. You've never treated me seriously or respectfully since we came here and, to be honest, you're the biggest jerk that I've ever met. Even Conner, who was quite a jerk to begin with when I first met him, was never as bad a jerk as you are."

"You're asking for it, geek!" Eric warned.

"Conner?" Ethan asked. "Do I have your permission to...?"

"He's all yours," Conner replied simply. "And, to be honest, I don't have any sympathy for him either. He completely deserves what's coming to him."

Ethan smiled. "Thank you," he said as he cracked his knuckles. "Normally, I don't believe in using violence to solve any situations but, today, I'm going to make an exception."

"Bring it on," Eric replied with an amused expression as he got into a fighting stance.

"With pleasure," Ethan replied as he calmly fought Eric. They fought back and forth for a few seconds before Eric realised that he was completely outclassed by Ethan's skill. It was clear to both Conner and Ethan that Eric hadn't paid any attention to his ninja training as his fighting style was poor and sloppy. Eventually, Ethan knocked Eric to the ground, picked him up and threw him out of the dormitory.

"Oh, that's got to have hurt," Conner said as he flinched as he heard Eric crash into the wall. Ethan smiled.

"I think that I overdid it a little. Eric's unconscious," he reported. Conner shrugged.

"He'll come round soon. Sometimes jerks need to have the sense knocked out of them before they'll learn a lesson. I know that I did a few times," Conner replied. "Besides, with him unconscious, we'll be able to read Dr O.'s letter in peace."

"Fair point. Do you want to read it or shall I?" Ethan agreed as he sat back onto his bunk. Conner sighed.

"It's all right. I'll do it," he replied as he opened the letter.

Then, Conner continued as he began to read the letter aloud with, "_Dear Conner and Ethan,_

_I thought that you might need these again. I know that you won't be able to use the Shield of Triumph fully without Kira but the powers of the Elements of Air, Earth, Thunder and Water might be able to be used as a substitute. I'm not too sure, though, so you should ask Cam whenever you find a chance to. _

_I also know about Lothor and I hope that you can hold him off long enough until I can get to the Wind Ninja Academy to give you both, and the Wind, Thunder and Samurai Rangers, some assistance but it's going to take me a while as I've got a number of other things that I've got to take care of at my end first._

_Don't worry about Kira, Trent and I. We're perfectly safe right now. We're with a number of other Rangers and we're currently gathering together outside a city known as Corinth. Do you guys both remember the Brachiozord? Well... we're currently living in the Brachiozord version 2.0. Hayley and I spent most of our time before the Venjix invasion rebuilding it along with the Biozords and, although Hayley was captured, I managed to continue our work. You'll be pleased to know that your Zords have been restored but, unfortunately, I couldn't send them to you as well. _

_Before you wonder, I didn't leave the case by your bedside in person. Instead, my mentor, Zordon of Eltar did. And, if you're wondering how he's alive again, he was revived when a freak accident occurred. However, this freak accident, the destruction of the AI computer virus known as Venjix who was in command of the Grinders, has resulted in most of the great evils and their generals being revived as well. I believe that it has also overloaded the Abyss of Evil which is why Lothor and his forces are free. _

_I wish you both good luck today. I know that you'll make me proud of you both again. _

_May the Power protect you,_

_Dr O._"

They sat in silence for several moments before Conner broke the silence with an exclamation of joy.

"Kira and Trent are alive!" he exclaimed.

"I knew that they would survive!" Ethan exclaimed happily. "Man, I can't wait to see them both again."

"Neither can I but..." Conner began.

At that moment, the ground shook violently and Ethan grimaced.

"It'll have to wait, Conner. Lothor's back," he said simply. Conner nodded as he hid the letter underneath his pillow.

"Let's go," Conner agreed as he stood up and, together, they rushed out of the room.

"Wait, where are you going?" Eric yelled after them. He had obviously returned to consciousness a few minutes before and he was sitting on the floor beside where he had hit the wall whilst rubbing his temples.

"To stop Lothor," Conner replied as he passed his twin brother.

"Are you nuts?" Eric began.

"No, we're Power Rangers, idiot," Ethan replied as he too passed Eric. "It's what we do."

Eric was visibly stunned by this but both Conner and Ethan ignored him.

"Let's hope that we're not already too late," Ethan exclaimed to Conner as the ground continued to shake badly.

"Let's," Conner agreed.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, early in the morning, a few minutes later_

Outside, Shane, Dustin, Tori, Blake, Hunter and Cam were all lying upon the ground before Lothor, who had Zurgane and Choobo at his side, after being beaten back by the greatest of all evil ninjas. Each of them were clutching their shoulders in pain as they tried to get back up onto their feet again.

"You're not going to beat me, today, powerless Rangers," Lothor laughed. "I know about all of your tricks and I won't fall for them. This is your end."

At that moment, Lothor, Zurgane and Choobo fired at the six of them whilst Conner and Ethan arrived at the battleground.

"No!" Conner exclaimed as he leapt into the attack's path with the Shield of Triumph in hand. It absorbed the attack and sent it hurtling back at Lothor and his generals. When the attack hit them, they were thrown backwards away from the six Ninja Storm Rangers.

"Take that, Lothor," Ethan said with a smug expression.

"You meddling fools..." Lothor began as he got back onto his feet.

"Actually, we're meddling _Rangers_ now," Conner corrected as he tossed the Shield of Triumph to Cam, who was still on the ground with the other Rangers, and looked to Ethan. "Ready?"

"Oh yeah," Ethan replied with a smile. Conner nodded as he held the hand with the bracelet upon it to his chest. Ethan also copied his gesture as the Red and Blue Dino Morphers appeared on their wrists.

"Dino Thunder, power up! Ha!" Conner and Ethan called as they activated their morphers. Seconds later, they had morphed.

"Kelzak Furies!" Lothor yelled as a dozen Kelzak Furies appeared in front of Lothor, Zurgane and Choobo.

Ethan grimaced. "Weapons?" he asked.

"Weapons," Conner agreed.

"Tricera Shield!" he called as he summoned his weapon from his belt.

"Tyranno Staff!" Conner called as he summoned his weapon from his belt.

Once both of them had their weapons, they stood ready.

"Attack!" Zurgane commanded.

As the Kelzak Furies attacked, both Conner and Ethan did as well. Whilst ducking and diving between Kelzak attacks, they managed to take out most of them by using their weaponry. Conner took out a few with a well-aimed strike with his Tyranno Staff whilst Ethan used the lasers built into the Tricera Shield to take out most of the remaining Kelzak Furies as they converged on Conner.

However, one Kelzak Fury managed to escape their attacks and, as Conner and Ethan began to advance upon it, Lothor decided to put it to some use.

"Mutate and grow, my monster!" Lothor commanded as he poured most of his evil ninja powers into it.

The six Ninja Storm Rangers got onto their feet at that moment just as the Kelzak Fury mutated into a hideous slimy bug and grew to massive proportions. Conner and Ethan instantly grimaced.

"Wow, that's one disgusting bug," Ethan grimaced.

"See if you can contend with that, Rangers!" Lothor cackled as he, Zurgane and Choobo vanished in a flash of shadowy black light. At that moment, the hideous slimy bug buzzed.

"I'll squash you and your precious Wind Ninja Academy like the bugs that you truly are, Rangers," the bug buzzed as it began to attack the Academy first.

"How are we going to fight that?" Dustin exclaimed as the six Ninja Storm Rangers got onto their feet.

"I think that it's time to go Triassic, Conner," Ethan said grimly. Conner nodded.

"Do you guys trust me?" Conner asked the six Ninja Storm Rangers. There was a moment of pause.

"Of course we trust you. Don't we, guys?" Tori said.

Shane nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "But, why?"

"In order for Conner to assume the powers of the Triassic Ranger, two power sources are required. The powers of the Blue and the Yellow Dino Gem," Ethan explained. "However, since Kira isn't here, Dr O. reckons..."

"Wait, you've talked to him?" Hunter asked. Conner shook his head.

"Not exactly. It's a long story that we'll tell you all about later," he promised. "Anyway, Dr O. reckons that the Elements of Air, Earth, Thunder and Water should be a good enough substitute. We need you to channel your ninja powers into the Shield of Triumph."

Cam nodded. "His reasoning is sound. It could work."

Shane, Dustin and Tori conferred each other for a moment before Shane nodded. "We'll do it," he said quite firmly. "Blake? Hunter?"

Blake and Hunter nodded. "We're in."

Cam passed Conner the Shield of Triumph at that moment.

"When I start channelling my Dino Power into the shield, you all must start channelling your ninja powers into it as well. Ready?" Ethan asked.

The Ninja Storm Rangers nodded. Ethan sighed and closed his eyes to concentrate. Then, he began to channel his energy into the Shield of Triumph.

"Power of Air!" Shane called as he entered a stance to summon his ninja powers. Then, he channelled the power of Air into the Shield of Triumph.

"Power of Earth!" Dustin called as he entered a stance to summon his ninja powers. Then, he channelled the power of Earth into the Shield of Triumph.

"Power of Water!" Tori called as she entered a stance to summon her ninja powers. Then, she channelled the power of Water into the Shield of Triumph.

"Power of Thunder!" Blake and Hunter finally called together as they entered their stances to summon their ninja powers. Then, they channelled the power of Thunder into the Shield of Triumph.

They waited a few moments but nothing happened.

"It's not working!" Conner exclaimed after those few moments as the Shield of Triumph continued to drain the six Rangers of the power that they were supplying it. "There's something missing."

"Cam! Perhaps you should give it a try," Shane suggested.

"But I can't! The Samurai has no known power source," Cam replied.

"Well, now would be a good time for you to discover that power source," Dustin exclaimed. "We're not going to be able to keep this up much longer."

"Try light, Cam," Ethan suggested. "Many samurais have been known as Warriors of Light in the old video games."

"You want me to base an attempt to summon my inner ninja power upon your knowledge of video games?" Cam exclaimed incredulously.

"Just try it, Cam," Hunter snapped. "We're running out of time here."

Cam sighed. "Fine," he said as he closed his eyes and instinctively moved into a stance only a samurai could pull off. "Power of Light!" he called in an attempt to summon his ninja powers.

It was an attempt which worked as the power of Light burst forth from his hands and he quickly channelled it into the Shield of Triumph.

There was an instantaneous difference. As soon as the power of Light hit the shield, Conner morphed into the Triassic Ranger and all the power flowing into the shield abruptly halted.

Each of the six Ninja Storm Rangers fell back onto the ground in exhaustion as Ethan was forcibly powered down.

"Are you all right?" Conner asked them with concern. The Ninja Storm Rangers were so exhausted that they didn't reply but Ethan smiled.

"We're drained but I'm sure that we'll be just fine," Ethan replied. "Go squash that bug."

"With pleasure," Conner replied as the Triassic Morpher appeared in place of his normal one. Then, he quickly activated his Battlizer and was equipped with the Triassic Battlizer Armour before he finally used his super-stretch ability to leap up onto the roof of the Wind Ninja Academy.

"You fool. The Buzzinator will sting you like a bee!" the bug hissed as it revealed that it had several massive stingers in a cannon within its fingers. As it struck, Conner dodged around by using intricate leaps to avoid being hit. Eventually, though, he had finally had enough of dodging and decided to strike back.

"It's time for you to feel the heat, Buzzinator," Conner called as he summoned the Dragon Yo-Yo. "Dragon Yo-Yo!"

As he swung the Dragon Yo-Yo to gather up momentum before he struck, he used his super-stretch ability to dodge further attacks, this time blobs of sticky fluid, from the Buzzinator.

Then, as soon as he had enough momentum, Conner began to strike at the Buzzinator whilst he avoided the Buzzinator's attacks. Each time that the Buzzinator was struck, it buzzed in a high pitch frequency to suggest that Conner was doing some considerable damage to it.

Eventually, in a show of considerable strength, Conner gathered up even more momentum and struck the Buzzinator hard upon its chest. This caused a massive explosion which Conner barely managed to escape from by leaping back to the ground.

When Conner landed beside Ethan a few minutes later, he powered down as the explosion subsided to reveal that the Buzzinator had been destroyed.

"It's just like riding a bike," Conner said with a weary smile. "You never forget your Ranger instincts."

"Yeah," Ethan agreed. "We're definitely back in business, my friend."

"And we showed Lothor that we're not to be messed with," Conner agreed as Sensei Watanabe came running out of the Wind Ninja Academy towards them. "There's just one problem, though."

"What?" Ethan asked.

"Helping me to morph into the Triassic Ranger has left the Ninja Storm Rangers so weak that they can barely get up," Conner said as he looked over to them. "I don't think that we're going to be able to use the Shield of Triumph often."

"Oh don't worry about us," Dustin said wearily as he tried to get back up. A number of the other Ninja Storm Rangers voiced their agreement. "We're just fine."

However, he failed and collapsed back to the ground again.

"I see what you mean. It has affected them more than it ever affected me," Ethan noted before he turned pale. "But that means..."

"Yes, Ethan. We're either going to have to find a way to restore their powers or get our Zords otherwise, if Lothor attacks with a more powerful monster next time, we'll be done for," Conner said simply.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Lothor's Secret Underground Hideout, mid-morning, at that very moment_

"Rangers!" Lothor cursed. "Why must there always be stupid Rangers getting in the way of things?"

"I don't know, Lothor," Choobo admitted. Lothor roared in angry frustration and both Zurgane and Choobo flinched.

"Find a way to rid ourselves of those two Dino Rangers immediately. And don't come back until you've got it done!" Lothor yelled.

Both Zurgane and Choobo nodded and left as Lothor sighed.

_Kanoi, I'll make sure that you, and your meddling Rangers, regret ever standing in my way._ Lothor vowed silently to himself as he stood there.


	8. Chapter 3: Dark Discussions

Thunder Storm Odyssey

Part of the Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart Universe

A Power Rangers Fanfiction

Chapter 3: Dark Discussions

by Lauraac2110

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, mid-morning, some time later_

"So, let me get this straight, your mentor's mentor brought a case here to the Wind Ninja Academy for you," Dustin began whilst he put several scrolls away on the bookshelf. "And, when you opened that case, you found your morphers and the Shield of Triumph?"

"And a letter. Don't forget the letter!" Shane added.

"Yeah," Conner replied as he put several more scrolls onto the bookshelf. "Pretty much."

"And this letter, what exactly did it say?" Tori asked curiously.

"Basically, Dr O. told us that we might be able to use the Shield of Triumph if you poured your Ninja powers into it as a substitute for Kira's Dino Gem," Ethan replied. "Then, he promised us assistance once he had taken care of a few things elsewhere. He didn't quite tell us what those things were, though."

"But he did tell us that he was with Kira and Trent and that they were safe," Conner continued. "He also told us that he is with other Rangers who are gathering outside of a city known as Corinth due to the fact that the destruction of the Venjix virus has caused an accident which has revived most of the greatest evil beings and their minions."

"Yeah, which means that Mesogog and his army of freaks are probably out there right now," Ethan continued with a look of disgust upon his face. "And our friends are probably fighting him as we speak."

"Probably being the key word, Ethan," Cam pointed out from where he sat by the computer. "If multiple teams of Rangers are gathering together, it could be that they are facing several other evil beings instead right now."

"We won't be able to count on his assistance any time soon, I don't think," Hunter pointed out quietly. "If he is facing multiple evil beings with other Rangers, it might take him a long time to find some spare time to come help us."

"I agree," Sensei Watanabe said grimly. "We're going to have to deal with Lothor by ourselves. Dr Oliver has helped us as best as he can but, for now, it is up to us to make sure that Lothor doesn't gain control of the Wind Ninja Academy. Especially now that the shield has lit up in the Inner Sanctum."

"If we're going to be able to successfully hold off Lothor, we're going to need either your Dino Zords or our powers back," Cam said grimly.

"We could always reprogram the Ninja Zords to allow Conner and Ethan to use them," Blake suggested.

"Definitely not," Cam said quite firmly. "You see..."

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Forest, Southern Section, mid-morning, at that very moment_

As Eric wandered through the forest, he was furious.

_I can't believe it! Conner and that nerd Ethan are Power Rangers. _Eric thought as he angrily kicked a nearby fallen branch. His kick sent it flying into the trees nearby and he growled. _I can't believe Conner didn't tell me. He's my twin brother, for goodness sakes..._

Eric stopped for a moment. _Yet he still told Cam and the Wind and Thunder Rangers all about his "secret" identity. How could he betray my trust like that?_

Eric kicked another nearby branch to send it flying into the trees before he angrily continued to wander through the forest.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Lothor's Secret Underground Hideout, mid-morning, also that moment_

Lothor, after dismissing his minions, was now pacing up and down in his secret hideout as he considered his options. He knew that he realistically couldn't rely upon Zurgane or Choobo to destroy the Dino Thunder Rangers as they had a track record for failing to deliver results. Hence, he was now considering a plan of his own.

After pacing around for another few moments, Lothor went over to a nearby pool of water and channelled his evil powers into it.

"Show me anything that might help my plans," Lothor commanded.

The water before him shimmered slightly and showed Lothor an image of Eric as he angrily wandered the forest around the Wind Ninja Academy. It then showed him several other images of Conner and Eric playing together when they were younger so that Lothor could quickly deduce that they were twins.

A large evil grin quickly spread across Lothor's face as he quickly came up with a plan.

_Yes, I can definitely use you to my advantage... _Lothor thought as he stared at the image of Eric for a moment before he turned and left his hideout.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, late morning_

"So, basically, we can't reprogram the Ninja Zords as they are specifically keyed into our Ninja Ranger energy," Shane said grimly after Cam had finished his explanation. "And, since Ethan and Conner aren't ninjas, it wouldn't be possible even if we try to key the Zords into the energy signature of their Dino Gems."

Cam nodded.

"Precisely," he said quite calmly. "The energy from the Dino Gems is so fundamentally different from our Ninja Ranger energy that it would overload the Zord controls and fry our systems. It can't be done."

"All right, we've established that reprogramming the Zords is out of the question," Ethan said grimly.

"What about using the Dino Gems to restore our powers?" Dustin suggested.

"Absolutely not," Cam said quite firmly. "You see..."

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Forest, Southern Section, late morning, at that very moment_

The sound of a branch cracking caused Eric to stop in his tracks. Someone was following him.

He whirled around and quickly scanned his surroundings but he couldn't see anyone or anything. However, he knew that something was there. He could feel it.

"Show yourself," Eric demanded as he quickly glanced around. "I know that you are there."

Whoever was there paused for a moment until they stepped out from behind a nearby tree. As soon as he saw him, Eric turned pale.

Lothor.

"What do you want?" Eric demanded as he got into a fighting stance.

"Nothing much," Lothor replied with a shrug. "Just to talk."

'I don't believe that," Eric replied as he charged. Lothor sighed and, after a moment, they were quickly locked in an intense battle. They fought back and forth, back and forth, with Lothor only doing enough to counter Eric's sloppy attacks and nothing more.

Eventually, after several minutes of fighting, Lothor stopped.

"I surrender," he declared. "I don't wish to fight you."

Eric blinked as he stopped still. A look of suspicion crept over his face as he glared at Lothor.

"I don't believe that," he replied simply.

"Eric McKnight, right?" Lothor asked. When Eric didn't reply, Lothor took that to mean that he was indeed Conner's twin as he had seen in the reflection of the water. "You're a kindred spirit. And I never harm kindred spirits."

Eric was confused. "What do you mean?"

"You feel betrayed by your twin brother, Conner," Lothor replied calmly. "You're angry that he hid the fact that he was a Power Ranger from you. You're jealous that he trusts others over his own blood. You're even somewhat confused about the fact that he didn't feel as if he could trust you as well."

Eric was stunned. Lothor had described perfectly how he was feeling right down to the slight confusion that was hidden beneath his feelings of fury and jealousy towards his brother.

_How does he understand me?_ Eric thought as he stared at Lothor.

As if he knew what Eric was thinking, Lothor said, "I had a twin brother just like you, Eric. He betrayed me in a similar way to how Conner has betrayed you long ago so I understand what you are going through."

An expression of fake sorrow came over Lothor's face at that moment. As a skilled actor, Lothor was good at falsifying his expressions. He couldn't quite believe that Eric was believing this performance but hid his disbelief well. This ninja was one of the most weak-minded he had ever met and Lothor hoped to use this to his advantage by turning him against his brother and the ninjas.

"So what do you want with me?" Eric demanded as he relaxed in his stance somewhat.

"As I said, you're a kindred spirit," Lothor said calmly with a shrug. "And I can guess that you're probably dissatisfied with the Wind and Thunder Senseis right now as well. If that is indeed the case, you could always come and work for me. Unlike your brother, I would appreciate your talents."

Eric was startled by this offer. _Why would Lothor want to hire me? I'm no one special. _He thought.

"Well?" Lothor demanded. Eric, after taking several moments to consider his offer, finally smiled.

"Lothor, I..." he began.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, early afternoon, some time later_

"So we also can't use the Dino Gems to recharge our powers because of the fact that we would risk completely draining the gems of all their energy thus stripping Conner and I of our morphers," Ethan continued as they finished tidying up Ninja Ops. "Great."

"There must be something we can do," Tori exclaimed in frustration.

After pacing for a moment, Conner turned to Cam. "Is there anything in your legends that might have the power to restore your Ninja Ranger powers to you if we could find it?"

"The legends are only legends," Sensei Watanabe replied firmly. "And nothing else with the power to restore the Ninja Ranger powers immediately comes to my mind right now."

Cam, deep in thought after what his father had said, glanced over at the bookshelf which held the scrolls containing the oldest legends of the Ninjas.

_I wonder... _he thought as an idea came to mind.


	9. Stormy Dreams: Elements Restored

Thunder Storm Odyssey

Part of the Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart Universe

A Power Rangers Fanfiction

Stormy Dreams: Elements Restored

by Lauraac2110

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, early afternoon, a few minutes later_

"Cam, have you thought of something?" Tori asked as she noticed that he was staring at the bookshelf. Cam blinked.

"Yes, I think that I might have an idea," Cam replied as he headed over to the bookshelf and reached up to the shelf with the heaviest scrolls upon it.

"Well?" Shane asked impatiently.

"The..." Cam began just as it happened.

The heaviest of all the scrolls tumbled off the shelf and hit Cam over the head.

"Cam!" Sensei Watanabe called in alarm as his son turned to them just as he collapsed into unconsciousness.

_Dreamworld, Sky Above_

_I become aware of myself floating. Almost instantly, I realise that there is something wrong._

_The last thing that I can remember happens to be the scroll falling off the shelf and hitting me. And, now, I'm here._

_Wherever here is, that is._

_Hesitantly, I open my eyes to find myself floating in the sky. After I courageously look down, I find that I'm floating over the Wind Ninja Academy itself._

What happened? _I wonder. I take a few moments to consider where I could possibly be._

_Then, it comes to be._

_This has to be the Dreamworld. And I'm dreaming after being knocked unconscious by that scroll._

But why I am here? _I wonder._

_At that moment, my dream seems to answer this question as I am propelled forward. As I look down, I see that I'm floating over the forest around the Wind Ninja Academy. Then, I'm floating over a distant stream which has a single pure white stone in the middle of it. After the stream, I continue floating over another forest until, finally, I reach the base of a mountain and stop._

_It's a mountain that I've never seen before. Its slopes are ashen grey and I quickly notice that they are barren of all life._

Why am I seeing this? _I wonder. Before I can consider this thought any further, my dream shows me again. I am suddenly propelled forward again, up the mountain, until I finally reach its peak._

_There, at the top of the peak, is a golden plaza. In the centre of the plaza, lies a sight that I never expected to see._

_The silver fountain with crystal clear water pouring out of it is an old legend amongst the Ninjas._

_The Fountain of Healing Light._

_I just stare at the Fountain in shock for several moments before the words of a wise ninja come to me._

Legends are just truths that have long been forgotten or concealed for important reasons. _I think as a smile crosses my face._

_I try to recall all that I know about the fountain. Legends say that it can only be found and used by someone pure of heart who seeks its powers in times of desperate need. It is believed to have great restorative powers and great powers of purification as well._

This could be the key to restoring the Ranger powers. _I think excitedly. _If it is as powerful as the legends say, it should easily be able to restore my Samurai Amulet and, by extension, the Ninja Storm Rangers.

_At that moment, everything starts to blur as I begin to hear my father calling out to me. Just as everything turns white, though, the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stand up._

_A low, threatening growl reaches my ears and I cry out in fright._

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, early afternoon, several minutes later again_

As Cam cried out when he returned to consciousness, he startled everyone who hastily backed away from him in alarm.

"Sorry," Cam apologised quickly as he quickly took a look at his surroundings. Whilst he was unconscious, they must have moved him onto the Command Chair by the computer and away from the bookshelf as that was where he was now sitting as he took deep laboured breaths.

"Cam, one of the scrolls fell off the shelf and knocked you out," Sensei Watanabe explained.

"It was the heaviest one, Cam," Tori said with concern. "Are you all right?"

Cam, who up until that point had been fine due to the adrenaline rush he must have experienced whilst unconscious, suddenly felt that his head was throbbing as the adrenaline rush suddenly stopped. Gently, he tenderly reached up and touched the spot where he had been hit by the scroll. Almost instantly, he winced.

Everyone was looking at him with some concern at this.

"Don't worry," Cam reassured them. "My head is a bit sore, that's all. It's nothing serious."

Relief was spread across all of their faces at this.

"That's good," Ethan grinned.

"So, now that Cam is awake, will someone please explain what the Fountain of Healing Light actually is?" Conner asked impatiently.

"Where did you hear about that?" Cam asked sharply.

"It was in the scroll that hit you, Cam," Ethan replied. Cam turned pale at this.

_That's clearly not a coincidence. _He thought. _Considering that I just dreamed about it..._

"Cam, are you all right?" Blake asked in concern.

"I think that I might have a solution to our problem," Cam replied.

He paused for a moment as everyone eagerly anticipated Cam's explanation.

"I know where the Fountain of Healing Light is," Cam declared grimly.


	10. Chapter 4: The Fountain of Healing Light

Thunder Storm Odyssey

Part of the Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart Universe

A Power Rangers Fanfiction

Chapter 4: The Fountain of Healing Light

by Lauraac2110

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, mid-afternoon, some time later_

"... So let me get this straight," Shane said as he paced. "You actually dreamed of the Fountain of Healing Light?"

Cam nodded. "Yes."

"And, according to your dream, it lies through the forest, across a distant stream with a white stone in the middle of it and at the top of a mountain devoid of all life within a golden plaza?" Shane continued

"Yes, Shane," Cam replied calmly.

"I'm having a hard time believing this," he admitted as he stopped pacing. Cam sighed at this.

"We believe you, Cam," Conner said with a grim smile. "Mainly because a similar thing happened to Dr O. once."

"You forgot to mention the fact that Dr O. was fighting for his life at the time, Conner," Ethan reminded Conner, who grimaced sheepishly at this fact, before he continued with, "Although we do still believe you, Cam."

Sensei Watanabe grimaced.

"I also believe you, Cam. It is no coincidence that you dreamed of the Fountain of Healing Light," he assured.

Cam sighed.

"I know. We desperately needed a way to restore our morphers, and our Zords, so that we wouldn't be at a disadvantage if Lothor enlarges his minions into giant monsters again," he said grimly. "And it was provided for us."

"As we were taught at the Thunder Ninja Academy, legends are just truths that have long been forgotten or concealed for important reasons," Blake said with a smile. "So I believe you, Cam."

"And so do I," Hunter assured.

Tori and Dustin also put in that they believed Cam as well. Shane sighed.

"If everyone else believes you, Cam, then I believe you as well," Shane grudgingly admitted. "Although I'm still having a hard time getting my head around the whole idea."

Silence prevailed for several moments before Cam broke it.

"So what are we going to do?" he demanded.

"I think that it would be best for you to go to the Fountain of Healing Light whilst we stay behind to protect the Wind Ninja Academy in case Lothor decides to show up again whilst you are gone," Hunter said grimly. "You were the one who dreamt of the Fountain of Healing Light in the first place so you are probably the only one amongst us capable of utilising its power to restore your Samurai Amulet. This would also restore our morphers as well since our Ranger powers seemed to have been linked directly to yours."

"Very well, I'll go," Cam reluctantly agreed. "However, I do not want to go alone."

"Take Marah or Kapri then, Cam," Sensei Watanabe suggested.

"Why can't I take anyone else?" he countered.

"Marah and Kapri are the only people that we can spare here, Cam. We need everyone else to be ready to defend the Wind Ninja Academy from Lothor's forces at a moments notice right now," Sensei Watanabe explained. Cam nodded.

"I'll fetch them and my Samurai Amulet then," he said before he left the room.

As soon as Cam was gone, Sensei Watanabe's expression turned grim as he looked at the floor.

"Sensei, what is it?" Tori asked.

"It will be a great test of Cam's skills to get to the Fountain of Healing Light. And an even greater test of Cam's skills will likely be waiting for him at the fountain to ensure that he is worthy of using its powers," Sensei Watanabe confessed. "There is a high chance..."

He trailed off at that moment.

"Sensei?" Dustin asked hesitantly.

Sensei Watanabe closed his eyes.

"There is a high chance that Cam might not come back alive," he admitted quietly.

Everyone else paled at this as a grim mood descended upon Ninja Ops at that moment.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, late afternoon, some time later again_

The mood, despite Marah and Kapri's excitement, was quite grim as they gathered outside the doors into the Wind Ninja Academy to see Cam off. Once he had fetched his Samurai Amulet and his cousins, he had returned to Ninjas Ops to be tightly embraced by all of his friends. Cam was quite confused by their behaviour since they were treating him as if they might never see him again.

He was even more confused by the grim expressions on their faces and the sad expression on his father's face. However, he never got a chance to ask about what was wrong since Marah and Kapri distracted him when they grabbed his arm to drag him off.

"Come along, Cam," Marah said. "The fate of the Wind Ninja Academy depends upon how quickly we can get to the Fountain of Healing Light, restore your Samurai Amulet and return here with it to restore the other Ranger's powers."

"But..." Cam began.

"You wouldn't want Lothor to destroy everything here, would you?" Kapri demanded.

"No, but..." Cam began again.

"Then, come on then," Marah said in irritation as she and Kapri started to drag him off as several of Rangers started sniggering at Marah and Kapri's overenthusiastic behaviour.

"Good luck, Cam. You're going to need it!" Conner called before Cam vanished into the forest with Marah and Kapri. Sensei Watanabe took on a grim expression as he turned to address the Rangers when he was sure that his son was gone.

"With Cam gone, Lothor will almost certainly send some of his minions here to attack us whilst we are weak," he said grimly.

"We're ready for him and his minions, Sensei," Shane assured. "Although we're not at full strength after the events of this morning, we've recovered enough to have enough strength to fight Kelzaks and lesser minions now."

The others Wind and Thunder Ninja Rangers voiced their agreement with Shane's words as Ethan grimaced.

"I've recovered quite well too," Ethan admitted. "However, I'm not at full strength either so we're going to be at a disadvantage."

"Then we must make some preparations to even the odds a little," Sensei Watanabe said grimly. "Come, we can discuss this further in Ninja Operations."

With that, he turned and left for Ninja Ops with all of them following in close pursuit behind him.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Lothor's Secret Underground Hideout, late afternoon, at that very moment_

"Choobo!" Lothor yelled as he paced endlessly up and down in the cavern.

At Lothor's shout, Choobo instantly rushed to Lothor's side.

"Lothor, you called?" Choobo asked. Lothor took on a serious expression at that moment.

"Choobo, I want you to take some Kelzaks and destroy the Rangers," Lothor commanded. "In their weakened state, they should not be too much of a problem for you, I'm sure."

"Yes, Lothor," Choobo replied. "I'll leave right away, Lothor."

With that, Choobo rushed away as Lothor turned to the figure that had, up until now, been concealed in the shadows. Completely cloaked in black, and fitted in black armour, he was Lothor's newest minion and Lothor wanted to test his worth.

"I want you to keep an eye on Choobo," Lothor commanded. "And make sure that he doesn't mess up either."

"As you command, Lothor," the figure said as he left after Choobo. Lothor smiled as soon as he was gone.

_The Rangers are in for a nasty surprise. _Lothor thought with a malicious grin. _Especially if it becomes necessary for my newest minion to step in..._

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Ninja Operations, early evening, some time later_

"Sensei! Sensei!" a panicked ninja exclaimed as he rushed down into Ninja Ops. "We're under attack from Choobo and an army of Kelzaks."

Sensei Watanabe paled at this as Shane issued orders.

"You will stay here and protect the Sensei," Shane barked to the ninja. "Dustin, Tori, Blake, Hunter, we'll take the Kelzaks so that we can clear a path for Conner and Ethan to get to Choobo. Conner, Ethan, you'll..."

"Take on Choobo and either destroy him or force him to flee," Conner finished. "Right."

"Choobo isn't very smart," Tori warned them. "But he is powerful so be on your guard against him."

"We will," Ethan assured.

"Be careful, all of you," Sensei Watanabe warned. "You'll be vastly outnumbered out there."

The Rangers nodded before they rushed out of Ninja Ops.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, early evening, several minutes later_

Outside, they were quickly set upon by the Kelzaks. The five Thunder and Wind Ninja Rangers quickly spread out to keep the Kelzaks occupied so that Conner and Ethan could make their way directly to Choobo.

"Choobo, you've made a big mistake coming here today," Conner warned. "You're delusional if you believe that we're going to let you destroy us and take over the Wind Ninja Academy without a fight."

"I will destroy you on Lothor's behalf, Rangers," Choobo replied confidently.

Ethan rolled his eyes.

"That really does get old, you know," Ethan replied. "The last minion that Lothor sent here said that. And we destroyed it."

"I am more powerful than that Buzzinator so I will be able to destroy you," Choobo declared firmly.

"We'll see," Conner replied as the held the hand with the bracelet upon it to his chest. "Ready?"

"Ready," Ethan agreed as he copied Conner's gesture. The Blue and Red Dino Morphers appeared on their wrists.

"Dino Thunder, power up! Ha!" both of them called as they activated their morphers. Seconds later, they had morphed.

"Tyranno Staff," Conner called as he summoned his weapon from his belt.

"Tricera Shield," Ethan called as he too summoned his weapon from his belt.

"Now," Conner exclaimed as they both charged into battle against Choobo. As they fought, neither of them noticed the figure cloaked in black watching from the nearby forest with a smile upon his face.

_Soon, I'll be able to get my revenge... _the figure thought.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Forest, Northern Section, early evening, at that very moment_

"Come on, Cam. We need to hurry," Marah and Kapri said simultaneously as they ran through the forest.

"I am hurrying," Cam replied as they ran. "If I go any faster, I won't have any energy left for later on when I'm going to need it most."

Both of them sighed but nodded as the three of them continued to travel through the forest at a rapid pace. As they ran, all of them hoped that they would reach the Fountain of Healing Light before it was too late.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, mid-evening, some time later_

"Duck!" Shane exclaimed. Tori and Dustin obeyed just as several Kelzaks were thrown over their heads by gusts of air to take out several of the Kelzaks that the pair had been fighting moments before. However, a number of other Kelzaks quickly took their places.

"Damn!" Shane cursed as the three of them took on the new Kelzaks. "The Kelzak horde appears to be endless. I honestly don't know how much longer I can keep this up for."

Hunter and Blake, who were fighting nearby, wore grim expressions.

"We keep fighting them for as long as it takes, Shane," Hunter replied. "Besides, you should really be thankful that we're only fighting Kelzaks and _not _Choobo as Conner and Ethan are."

"Yeah," Blake agreed. "Just look at how intense it is over there."

Shane took a moment to glance towards the fight between Choobo, Conner and Ethan where blows were being dodged, landed and thrown all over the place. Conner and Ethan were fighting brilliantly together and Choobo seemed to be faltering considerably because of their flawless teamwork. Lothor's lieutenant could barely keep up with them as they wove their way around him in an intricate dance whilst taking all the opportunities that they had to attack or support each other.

"All right, I get the point," Shane conceded as he took out one of the Kelzaks he was fighting. "Choobo is exceptionally dangerous, especially to us without our Ranger powers, yet they're making him look like he is a weakling over there."

"That's because he is a weakling, Shane," Dustin pointed out rather loudly as he dodged a blow from another Kelzak. "Choobo has, and always will be, the weakest link in Lothor's chain of minions."

Choobo, who had heard this from where he was fighting Conner and Ethan, was furious about this comment.

"I'm not a weakling!" he protested rather loudly in reply as he turned away from his opponents, the Dino Thunder Rangers, towards Dustin.

Conner and Ethan, however, proved that he was a weakling at that moment when they took full advantage of the welcome distraction to knock Choobo to the ground.

"Now, Conner!" Ethan exclaimed.

"Agreed," Conner replied as the tip of his staff opened. He fired at Choobo at that moment.

With startling agility, the figure cloaked in black rushed from where he had concealed himself in the nearby forest to deflect the shot away from Choobo by using one of the swords he carried. At the same moment that he deflected the blow, a gust of wind knocked his hood off to reveal his face.

Concealed behind their helmets, both Dino Rangers had shocked expressions upon their faces.

"Eric?" Conner said in horror.

"Hello, brother," Eric replied coldly.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy,_ _Stream, mid-evening, at that moment_

They had arrived at the stream moments ago and, now, Cam was cursing freely in unrestrained fury and frustration as he stood in the stream.

The pure white stone was there, right in the middle of stream, but there were no signs of the ash grey mountain slopes anywhere. It appeared that their desperate last chance hope for salvation had been completely dashed.

His cousins, Marah and Kapri, were watching silently in something akin to shock since they had never seen Cam so truly angry before. Of course, he had lost his temper a fair few times over the years but they had never seen him get so angry as he was now.

"Cam, what are we going to do now?" Marah asked hesitantly.

Cam didn't reply as he paced up and down in the stream for a moment.

"Honestly? I don't have a clue," he admitted. "This was supposed to be how we were going to recharge the Samurai Amulet and the other morphers. Alas, though, it appears not to be."

"Cam..." Kapri began. He ignored her as a renewed bout of frustration came over him.

"Damn it," he exclaimed furiously. "The others are probably fighting one of Lothor's minions right now and, without our powers, Lothor's going to destroy us all."

He kicked the stone at that moment as he let out a string of curses. Within a few moments, the ground began to tremble wildly. Before he could react, though, there was a brilliant flash of white light and everything went black.

_Mountain of Ashes, No Time_

When Cam returned to consciousness, he found Marah and Kapri hanging over him with concerned expressions upon their faces.

"Cousin, are you all right?" they asked hesitantly.

"I'm fine," Cam assured as they helped him to his feet. He instantly took a look at his surroundings.

They were now standing on the slopes of the ash grey mountain from his dream. It was completely devoid of all life as he had dreamt it to be.

"It seems that your frustration actually got us somewhere, Cam," Kapri admitted with a smile. "When you struck the stone, all of us passed out and we found ourselves here."

"So, the fountain is at the top of the mountain, right?" Marah asked. Cam nodded.

"Come on, then," Kapri exclaimed excitedly as he grabbed his arm and, together, the three of them rapidly began to climb the grey slopes of the mountain.

_Mountain of Ashes, Golden Plaza, No Time_

"The Fountain of Healing Light," Cam breathed as they entered the golden plaza. "We made it."

Marah and Kapri, who were slightly out of breath at that moment, smiled at him as he gazed at the silver fountain in the centre of the plaza.

"Well go on then," Marah urged.

"Yeah, go on, Cam," Kapri urged.

Cam nodded as he took off his Samurai Amulet and slowly made his way to the Fountain. Before he could restore his Samurai powers, though, he was stopped by a low threatening growl which made his skin crawl.

"Cam, look out!" Marah and Kapri simultaneously warned.

Cam ducked instinctively at that moment to avoid a powerful blow to the head. Then, he tumbled out of the way before he got to his feet so that he could take a good look at the monster that was guarding the plaza.

He almost gulped when he saw the powerful grizzly bear equipped with silver armour towering over him. It growled threateningly again as it lunged for him.

"Cam!" Marah and Kapri exclaimed as he dodged the attack. They took a step forward as if they were about to help him.

"No!" Cam stated firmly as he dodged another blow. "I was the one who dreamt of the way to the Fountain of Healing Light. I _have _to be the one to pass the test on my own so that I can restore my morpher. Don't interfere!"

He had to dodge several blows at that moment by diving out of the way as the bear tried to take several powerful swipes at him. He quickly got back to his feet again, with his two cousins watching anxiously, before he continued to dodge all of the blows that the bear was trying to land upon him without harming it.

"Cam, why don't you just kill the bear?" Marah exclaimed.

"No," Cam replied firmly. "It is the guardian of the Fountain of Healing Light, and utterly innocent, so I will not harm it. I have only come here to restore my Samurai Amulet not to spill any innocent blood."

At that moment, the onslaught of blows suddenly stopped as the massive grizzly bear submissively lay down where it had been standing moments before beside the Fountain of Healing Light. Cam instantly realised that he had been found worthy by the bear to use the fountain by proving that he would not harm innocents with what he planned to use its power for beyond a doubt to it.

"Looks like you've been found worthy, Cam," Kapri said with a smile. "You've probably shown it that you will not abuse the great powers of the Fountain of Healing Light."

Hesitantly, Cam moved towards the Fountain of Healing Light again. This time, the grizzly bear made no moves to stop him so he took up his Samurai Amulet and gently lowered it into the crystal clear water.

For a few moments, nothing happened until both the fountain and the amulet began to glow. For several moments, Cam held the Samurai Amulet in the water until the glow vanished once again. Then, he took up his Samurai Amulet and put it around his neck once more.

As soon as the amulet was around Cam's neck, there was a massive unexpected burst of white light from the fountain which caused Cam, Marah and Kapri to pass out again.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy,_ _Stream, mid-evening, several minutes later_

When they came to again, they found themselves back in the stream again. All three of them were soaking wet but none of them complained since they all knew that they had more important things to be worried about at that moment.

"We had better get back to the Wind Ninja Academy," Cam said grimly. "The other Ninja Storm Rangers are going to need their powers back as soon as possible."

Marah and Kapri, despite the fact that they were weary, nodded.

"We'll streak," Kapri said firmly. Marah nodded in agreement.

_Just hold on, guys, I'm coming. _Cam thought just before the three of them vanished in their ninja streaks.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, mid-evening, at that very moment_

"Why, Eric?" Conner asked to break the oppressive silence that had occurred between them as the battle raged on around them. Choobo remained on the ground where he had fallen, with a gleeful expression on his face, whilst he watched the tense stand-off between the two twin brothers.

"Why?" Eric snarled. "Because you betrayed me. I was your twin brother, Conner, and we were supposed to tell each other everything. You never saw fit to tell me about your secret. You never saw fit to tell me that you were a Power Ranger yet I bet that you've probably told that nerd everything."

"Some secrets cannot be shared," Ethan said firmly from where he stood behind Conner. "You're delusional, Eric. I can assure you that Lothor is only using you for his own gain."

Eric grew furious at this.

"Lothor understands me which is more than I can say for my own brother and you," Eric snarled. "He would never use me for his own gain."

"Keep telling yourself that, Eric," Ethan replied as he rolled his eyes. "But you know deep inside yourself that Lothor _is _using you."

Eric was about to lunge for Ethan at that moment when Conner put himself in front of his friend.

"I don't know what has gotten into you, Eric," Conner said with a pained expression upon his face. "But this is not my brother. If you will not see sense, I have no choice but to consider you my enemy."

Conner raised his Tyranno Staff into a defensive position at that moment.

"Which leaves me with only one choice," Conner continued. "You're quite clearly delusional..."

"And still a jerk," Ethan added.

"... so I will defend myself appropriately," Conner finished.

"So be it then," Eric replied coldly as he drew his other sword. Seconds later, both of them became locked in a titanic duel with each other as Ethan looked on helplessly as the twin brothers clashed.

_Poor Conner... _Ethan thought. _This must be tearing him up inside to be fighting his own twin brother to protect the Wind Ninja Academy. Lothor's definitely going to pay for this..._


	11. Chapter 5: The Storm Restored

Thunder Storm Odyssey

Part of the Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart Universe

A Power Rangers Fanfiction

Chapter 5: The Storm Restored

by Lauraac2110

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, mid-evening, a few moments later_

As Conner and Eric clashed furiously, Ethan continued to watch helplessly as his best friend fought against his own twin brother who had turned against them.

Choobo, Lothor's lieutenant, was watching gleefully as he got back onto his feet. He looked as if he was going to use the distraction that Eric was providing to take out Conner. Ethan, however, quickly intervened to protect his closest friend.

"Oh no you don't, Choobo," Ethan said firmly as he attacked Choobo to distract him from the battle between Conner and Eric. "If you want to get to Conner, you'll have to go through me first."

"With pleasure, Ranger," Choobo hissed as he attacked. Ethan dodged before retaliating with a volley of blows which Choobo barely managed to block.

"And you'll also have to do better than that," Ethan added. Choobo growled furiously at this and, within seconds, both of them were locked in a heated battle as Conner and Eric continued their ferocious clash nearby. Both of them were completely oblivious to what was going on around them since they were focusing only on each other.

Shane, Dustin, Tori, Blake and Hunter were not so oblivious to what was going on around them, though, as they continued to fight the Kelzaks nearby.

"I can't believe that Eric has betrayed us," Shane exclaimed furiously. "How could he go against everything that a ninja stands for?"

"I'm as hurt about Eric's betrayal as you are, Shane," Tori replied as she dodged a powerful blow from one of the Kelzaks. "However, we have to concentrate upon fighting these Kelzaks right now."

"Tori's right," Dustin added in as he took out yet another Kelzak before he barely dodged several powerful blows to his chest. Nearby, Hunter and Blake also barely dodged a few blows due to the fact that exhaustion was now setting in.

"Cam had better get back soon," Hunter said grimly as he took out several Kelzaks with a sweeping blow. "We're all getting quite exhausted."

"And we will definitely not be able to keep this up for much longer," Blake added as several more Kelzaks took the places of the ones that Hunter had just taken out and, with a small groan, both Blake and Hunter dodged several blows from them before they began to fight back once again.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, late evening, some time later_

The mistake was a simple one. And one that Choobo took full advantage of.

Ethan had just put too much power into one of his punches causing him to stumble as Choobo dodged his attack which gave Lothor's lieutenant an opening to exploit. Whilst Ethan recovered from his stumble, Choobo dealt him a powerful blow which caused him to cry out as he fell to the ground and was forcibly powered down.

Nearby, as Conner fought Eric, he was distracted by Ethan's cry. When he saw his friend lying on the grass, Conner instinctively moved to help Ethan as he forgot all about the fact that he was in the midst of fighting Eric.

And this was a mistake that Eric took full advantage of as well.

Before Conner could get to Ethan's side, Eric disarmed him, dealt him a powerful blow to forcibly power him down and held him at swordpoint.

"This is your end, Rangers!" Choobo taunted as he and Eric prepared to use their finishing moves. However, before either of them could, two jets of green light hit them and threw them away from the two Dino Thunder Rangers. Both Conner and Ethan instantly turned to the source of the green light as they both got back to their feet clutching their chests.

"Cam! Boy are we glad to see you," both of them said in relief when they saw Cam Watanabe standing at the edge of the forest with Marah and Kapri at his side with his arms folded across his chest. The Samurai Amulet around his neck was glowing brightly which told Conner and Ethan that he had indeed succeeded in his quest to restore the Ninja Storm Ranger's powers.

"Congratulations," Conner said with a grin. "Looks like Ethan and I are no longer the only Power Rangers in this place. How was it?"

"Compared to some of the other dangerous situations that I've ever been in, not too bad," Cam replied with a smile as he moved to their side. "Although it was a great test of my skills."

At that moment, Eric and Choobo got back onto their feet and Cam put himself in front of the two Dino Rangers.

"Stand aside, Cam," Eric said coldly.

"No," Cam replied calmly.

"So be it," Eric replied as he held his swords at the ready. "I'll just destroy you then."

Cam rolled his eyes at this.

"You won't be able to destroy me, Eric," Cam replied. "You wouldn't even be a challenge for me to defeat. However, if I have to, I'll take you on with little difficulty."

He took off his Samurai Amulet at that moment and held it calmly in his right hand. Seconds later, it glowed and became his Samurai Cyclone Morpher.

"Samurai Storm, Ranger Form!" Cam called as he held his morpher out before bringing to his chest and activating it. Seconds later, he morphed into the form of the Green Samurai Ranger and, as he drew his Samurai Saber, beams of coloured light shot out of it to the other Ninja Storm Rangers' morphers to restore their powers.

"Keep Choobo out of the way whilst I deal with this fool," Cam said coldly to Conner and Ethan before he charged into battle against Eric. As both of them clashed, Conner and Ethan turned their attention to Choobo.

Before either of them could launch into battle against Lothor's lieutenant to keep him occupied, Shane, Dustin and Tori broke free of the Kelzaks and rushed in front of Conner and Ethan.

"Leave Choobo to us," Shane said calmly as Tori and Dustin nodded in agreement with him. "Now that we've got our Ranger powers back, we should be more than a match for him. Go help Blake and Hunter to dispose of the Kelzaks."

Conner and Ethan nodded before they both turned away and rushed to help Blake and Hunter deal with the Kelzaks whilst the three Wind Ninja Rangers got into position.

"Choobo, you're ours," Shane stated firmly. "Ready?"

"Ready," Tori and Dustin agreed.

"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form!" the three of them called as they spun their Power Discs. Then, they morphed.

As one, the three of them drew their Ninja Swords before they charged at Choobo.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, late evening, at that very moment_

Nearby, Conner and Ethan were making quick work of the Kelzaks. Conner was a blur, using his super-speed to weave in out of a number of the Kelzaks, as he took out Kelzaks left and right. Ethan, on the other hand, was using his Dino-Skin to his advantage so that he could easily take out Kelzaks without sustaining any serious injuries.

Within a few minutes, Conner and Ethan had completely decimated half of the Kelzak horde. Blake and Hunter, who were still fighting Kelzaks nearby, decided to tap into some of their stronger powers to deal with the Kelzaks now since their restored Ranger powers had reduced their fatigue considerably.

Both of them looked at each other and Hunter grinned.

"Thunder on three," Hunter said as both of them moved to stand back to back as the remaining Kelzaks swarmed around them. "One... two... three!"

"Power of Thunder!" both of them called as they entered their stances to summon their ninja powers. Seconds later, they fired bolts of lightning from their fingertips at the remaining Kelzaks to quickly destroy them.

Ethan barely avoided being hit by one of their bolts of lightning which strayed from its target towards him. Fortunately, Conner had been paying attention and managed to use his speed to pull Ethan out of the way before he was zapped.

When the bolts of lightning finally stopped, all of the Kelzaks had been destroyed. Conner whistled as Hunter and Blake turned their attention to the battle between the other Ninja Storm Rangers and Choobo.

"Are you coming?" Hunter and Blake asked as they looked to Conner and Ethan. The pair, who were completely exhausted and sore, shook their heads.

"No," Conner answered. "We'll sit this battle out now."

Hunter and Blake nodded as both of them pressed a button to reveal their Power Discs. Then, they both got into position.

"Thunder Storm, Ranger Form!" they simultaneously called as they spun their Power Discs. Then, they morphed.

Once they had morphed, they pulled out their Thunder Staffs and charged into battle against Choobo. Conner quietly turned his attention to the battle between his brother and Cam as he sighed.

_Why, Eric? _He thought simply as he watched whilst Marah and Kapri came over to them.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, late evening, a few minutes later_

As the battle continued around them, Eric and Cam only had eyes for each other as they clashed. Moving back and forth as they dealt deadly blows, neither of them were paying any attention to the battle going on between Choobo and the other Ninja Storm Rangers nor did they pay any attention to Conner or Ethan either.

Eventually, their deadly dance was halted when Cam, who had grown tired of their battle, unleashed his finishing move to disarm Eric before he knocked him to the ground.

"Game's over, Eric," Cam said coldly. "You've betrayed the Wind Ninja Academy by joining Lothor. And you are no match for me."

Eric growled as he got back to his feet and quickly collected his swords.

"This isn't over," Eric vowed. "I'll get my revenge one day."

With that, Eric fled before Cam could stop him. Nearby, Choobo moved to flee as well but Cam quickly blocked his path.

"You are not going anywhere, Choobo," Cam said calmly as he struck Lothor's lieutenant down. "Guys, now!"

Shane nodded as the Wind and Thunder Ninja Rangers drew their personal weapons and quickly put them together to form the Thunderstorm Cannon before they got into position.

"Thunderstorm Cannon! Ready?" Shane asked.

"Ready," the others replied firmly.

"Fire," Shane said as he pressed the trigger.

Seconds later, Choobo was destroyed in a powerful explosion as the powerful sphere of energy which burst out of the Thunderstorm Cannon hit him before he could escape.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Lothor's Secret Underground Hideout, late evening, at that very moment_

As Lothor stood by the pool of water and watched Choobo's destruction, he rolled his eyes.

_Choobo is still an idiot. _Lothor thought. _However, I can use him to see whether or not the Ninja Storm Rangers have their machines or not. _

He closed his eyes at that moment as he channelled his evil ninja energy to restore Choobo.

"Return and grow, my lieutenant," Lothor commanded as his eyes snapped open once again.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, late evening, a few minutes later_

"How do you like me now, Rangers?" Choobo demanded as he grew to a massive size. The six Ninja Storm Rangers grimaced as Choobo cackled evilly.

"Cam?" Shane said as he looked to the Green Samurai Ranger for guidance whilst they dismantled the Thunderstorm Cannon.

"Give me a moment," Cam replied as he used his Samurai Saber to remotely access Ninja Ops. He then rapidly began typing in various passwords and commands so that he could get to the Zord Controls.

Whilst he was doing this, Choobo advanced ever closer towards the Rangers.

"Cam, you had better hurry up," Tori said in warning as Choobo grew ever closer to the Rangers. At that moment, the Samurai Saber beeped and Cam smiled.

"Your Zords have been released. Go!" Cam commanded.

"With pleasure," Shane replied with a grin as the five Wind and Thunder Ninja Rangers rushed to get into the cockpits of their Zords which, as soon as they were inside, formed into the Storm and Thunder Megazords.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Storm Megazord Cockpit, late evening, a few minutes later_

"Shane, Hunter, confirm that the Thunder and Storm Megazords are fully operational," Cam commanded through the radio link between his Samurai Saber and the Storm Megazord.

On the video screen which showed the Thunder Megazord cockpit, Hunter had a grin on his face.

"Thunder Megazord is fully operational and at full power," he confirmed as Shane checked the diagnostics of the Storm Megazord.

"Storm Megazord is fully operational and at full power," Shane confirmed after another moment as Choobo continued to advance closer to them.

"If we're going to get rid of Choobo, you're going to need to use the Minizord to form the Thunderstorm Megazord," Cam said grimly to Shane over the radio link. "Currently, neither of your Megazords are powerful enough on their own to destroy him even if you combined your attacks so combining the Megazords together is your best option."

"All right, Cam," Shane said as he and Hunter quickly found the Power Discs that they needed. They then inserted them into the required slot.

"Locked and dropped," both of them said simultaneously as they turned the handle to drop the Power Discs into the system. From the chests of the Thunder and Storm Megazords, the 7th and 8th Power Spheres flew out. Then, they opened to reveal two halves of the small robotic Minizord which quickly came started to fuse together.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, Thunderstorm Megazord Cockpit, late evening, a few minutes later again_

Once the Minizord was whole, the Thunder and Storm Megazords quickly combined to form the Thunderstorm Megazord which easily managed to block Choobo's attack as he tried, and failed, to stop them from combining their Megazords.

Blows were exchanged as the Thunderstorm Megazord and Choobo fought back and forth. The Ninja Storm Rangers were desperately trying to keep him away from the Wind Ninja Academy which had already been damaged enough after the Buzzinator nearly destroyed a good portion of it earlier. However, Choobo kept trying to go towards the academy which made their job all the more difficult.

"I shall destroy you, Rangers!" Choobo vowed as they continued to fight. Tori rolled her eyes at this.

"You've said that before, Choobo," Dustin countered. "And we ended up destroying you then."

"Not this time," Choobo vowed.

"We'll see," Blake replied as the Thunderstorm Megazord dodged a particularly powerful punch to the head. Before Choobo could pull back again, the Thunderstorm Megazord caught his arm and threw him to the ground.

"I'm getting sick of this," Hunter said coldly. "End this, Shane!"

"Right," Shane agreed as he activated a number of controls. "Once again, Choobo, you've proven that you are both stupid and weak. This is where we send you back to the Abyss of Evil once again where I hope you rot! Lion Blaster!"

With that, the Thunderstorm Megazord unleashed its finishing move as it fired rapidly at Choobo. Choobo, who was still sitting on the ground, couldn't get up in time to dodge the attack and was struck several times by the powerful beams of energy that the Thunderstorm Megazord had unleashed against him.

"No! I will not be defeated! Not again! Mommy!" Choobo cried as he staggered to his feet and took several steps before he fell down again. He was then destroyed in the subsequent explosion.

"And that's the end of Lothor's lieutenant," Shane said in satisfaction.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, late evening, at that very moment_

As soon as Choobo was gone, Conner turned away from watching the Thunderstorm Megazord and began to slowly walk away from where he had been standing with Marah, Kapri, Ethan and Cam.

_I can't believe that Eric has betrayed us. Why has he turned his back on me and the Wind Ninja Academy? _Conner thought.

Ethan, who had noticed that Conner wasn't standing beside him, turned instantly and caught up with Conner.

"Conner, wait," Ethan said gently. "I'm coming with you. You're not going to deal with your brother's betrayal on your own."

Conner looked at him with pain filled eyes before he wordlessly nodded. Together, both of them started to make their way back inside the Wind Ninja Academy.

_Poor Conner... _Ethan thought as he walked. _Eric was a jerk, yes, but even I never expected him to betray Conner, his own brother, in the way that he did. How could someone turn on his own brother so quickly?_

Ethan sighed.

_This is all Lothor's fault. _Ethan thought firmly.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, very late in the evening, some time later_

The six Ninja Storm Rangers, who had all now powered down, gathered with Marah and Kapri back on the ground after they had left their Zords which had been sent back to their respective hangars by Cam.

"We've got our powers back and Choobo is gone," Shane said with a smile. "I do believe that we have a cause for a small celebration right now."

"Guys, where are Conner and Ethan?" Tori asked suddenly. Marah, Kapri and Cam all blinked at this.

"They must have slipped off to be by themselves," Marah answered.

"It's likely that Conner probably wanted to deal with Eric's betrayal on his own," Kapri continued. "And Ethan probably went with him to make sure that he will be all right."

"Eric has gone against everything that the Wind Ninja Academy and Conner himself have stood for," Sensei Watanabe said grimly as he appeared with two of the ninjas of the academy flanking him. "His betrayal is a deadly blow to Conner McKnight and to the Wind and Thunder Ninja Academies as a whole."

"We should go see how he is," Kapri said sadly. "He could be..."

"No," Sensei Watanabe stated firmly. "Speaking from my experience of betrayal, it is best that Conner is left on his own tonight. Ethan is with Conner right now and, since he is exceptionally close to his best friend, Ethan should be able to help Conner through this. All of you should get some rest since all of us have had a trying day."

"Yes, Sensei," Shane replied respectfully. "Come on, guys, let's go get some rest."

The Ninja Storm Rangers, along with Marah and Kapri, left at that moment as Sensei Watanabe looked up to gaze at the full moon that now hung in the sky.

_Lothor, you will pay for tearing another family apart during your quest for vengeance. _Sensei Watanabe vowed. _Someday soon, you will regret corrupting Eric to your side. This much I vow right now._

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Wind Ninja Academy, McKnight/James Dormitory, very late in the evening, some time later_

As Conner lay there on his bed with his back to Ethan, tears streamed down his cheeks.

"Conner, are you all right?" Ethan asked quietly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

_How can I describe how it feels? How can I describe what I'm going through now that my twin brother has abandoned me? _Conner thought bitterly.

"Conner?" Ethan said hesitantly from where he sat on his own bed.

"I'm fine," Conner replied bitterly before he added, "I'm tired, Ethan, so goodnight."

"Goodnight, Conner," Ethan said sadly as the Red Dino Ranger pulled the duvet around himself and tried to get some sleep.

_Eric, you are definitely going to pay for hurting Conner like this. _Ethan vowed as he lay down upon his own bed and closed his eyes as he too tried to get some sleep.

Minutes later, Ethan was fast asleep as Conner lay there restlessly, unable to sleep, due to the fact that Eric's betrayal was at the forefront of his mind.

_Somewhere near Blue Bay Harbour, Lothor's Secret Underground Hideout, very late in the evening, at that very moment_

"Lothor, I've failed you," Eric said quietly as he was escorted in by Zurgane.

"No, you haven't," Lothor replied calmly. "You've proved that you are useful, Eric, after your performance today although you do need a little further training. Your twin, Conner, the Red Dino Ranger, appears to have been badly affected by your betrayal."

Eric nodded.

"Choobo, however, proved once again that he was completely useless," Lothor continued. "And, as such, he was destroyed by the Rangers because he was too weak and too stupid."

"He deserved his destruction, Lothor," Zurgane agreed. "Especially when he let the Rangers get their powers back."

"Yes," Lothor agreed as he turned to Eric. "You've earned a promotion. Congratulations, my new lieutenant."

Eric smiled evilly and nodded.

"Thank you, Lothor," he said with a deep bow. "You will not be disappointed."

"I had better not be," Lothor warned before he turned to Zurgane. "Take my new lieutenant and train him appropriately, Zurgane, since it is clear that he is in need of some further instruction in the martial arts."

"As you wish, Lothor," Zurgane replied as he took Eric's arm and dragged him off.

As soon as his minions were gone, Lothor growled.

_I will destroy the Rangers and get my revenge against Kanoi even if it is the last thing that I ever do. _He vowed before he left to go deeper into his hideout to concoct a new plan to hopefully destroy the Rangers and get his revenge.


End file.
